Sunset
by The Avid Dreamer
Summary: Shadow doesn't remember being bitten by anyone, but he certainly remembers dying- and living to tell about it. Thrown into the dark world of the undead, the macabre little hedgehog must now find a way to get back into the realm of the living!
1. Prologue

Prologue

_What the Hell... what the Hell?!_

His lungs began to flame, starved of breath, struggling to expand. His ribs spread, mouth gaped, nostrils flared, but still he could pull no air into his burning lungs.

_I can't... I can't!!_

His whole body writhed with panic and desperation- feet kicked, fist pounded, nails scraped. His heart raced, beating against it's airless cage, threating to break free and producing all the pains of such an escape. An inferno had erupted in his lungs, a jackhammer in his chest, and he could do nothing- nothing- about it, and it was at this realization that the hedgehog thought two words he had always been too proud to utter:

_Help me..._

His eyes and vision turned inward from the room and floorboards he hadn't even noticed; his head buzzed as every neuron fired off in death writhes of their own. Where was everyone? He couldn't even remember what he had been doing. His mind jumped to the blond-haired, blue-eyed Maria- no, things had happened since then. Sonic, a jungle- no, that was the past, too. Doom's eye circled- no. Club Rouge- no!

Not a flicker of his most recent actions came to mind- nothing. He couldn't even remember waking up to witness his own death- and surely his body was dead, now. Somewhere he had heard of people staying conscious after their own decapitation- brain cells had enough energy to last a few seconds without oxygen, or so that was the theory. He took a quiet moment to confirm that he was in fact, dead; the scuffling and panic had stopped; He wasn't breathing; his heart had ceased all pumping...

It was taking a _long_ time for him to lose consciousness.

It was getting ridiculous.

What the Hell.

Shadow's eyes flicked from under their half closed lids, adjusting to the pitch black room. He could only determine the fuzzy grain of the wood floor he was supposed to be decomposing on.

_Oh, how morbid_, the obsidian hedgehog mused to himself. With little effort and much enthusiasm he pushed himself off of the floorboards, pausing to acknowledge the act; he hadn't died, and at that realization he let out a shaky sigh of relief.

He fell right back into a world of panic; something wasn't right. His chest heaved, and there was no rush of air past his teeth or down his throat. He closed his mouth and tried again- not a sniff tickled his long nose. For a moment, he sat there, completely still, shocked beyond action, and it was in this complete inanimateness that a second something became not right. Trembling, he pulled his arm to his chest, pressed its palm against his fur, and felt not even a flutter of a heartbeat.

Before he had a chance to rationalize his own state of being, movement stirred his furry ears, and the hedgehog spun toward its source. There, leaning against the plain wall, seeming perfectly small and meek, was a girl. She was dressed for the occasion: black shoes, a black dress, and a black bucket hat which hid half her face. She stood, pressed against the wall on the otherwise empty far side of the room, arms locked behind her. Caring hardly for her identity and wholly for the situation, Shadow dropped all formality in favor of enlightenment.

"Wh... What's... what's happened to me?"

She seemed to shrink. Lowering her head as if to mutter, the girl swallowed before opening her mouth, closing it, and tightening her crossed arms as if to brace herself.

"You died. Right there. And.. You're here- standing, here- now. Because- you're not dead anymore. Because... you're... undead."

A moment of silence followed. Shadow's eye twitched as he took a step toward her.

"I'm-"

"Undead," She hurriedly interjected as if to halt her audience's advance. "You were bitten- and now you're dead- undead, I mean."

The hero took a second to realize that his heart was supposed to skip at that juncture and that it hadn't. The girl turned her bucket-hatted head to look at the second blank wall, whispering off-handedly, trying very hard to ignore her own words.

"You... were... bitten... by- another vampire."


	2. Enlightenment

Chapter 1: Enlightenment

Sunrise was at 6:57 AM.

The sun reached it's zenith at 1:05 P.M.. Station Square buzzed in its usual weekday hustle, each citizen contributing to the overall liveliness of the city. A few particular streets would receive an extra burst of energy as a particular blue blur rebounded from asphalt to traffic light, swinging around telephone poles and launching onto rooftops. Sonic the Hedgehog shot along the parapets as easily as he raced down the streets, soon hitting an intersection, ricocheting off a big rig, and rocketing down a lazy avenue.

Downtown Station Square was, like the rest of the city, alive with the daily activity of its inhabitants. Dawn Cafe reflected the hustle and bustle of the times as waiters and waitresses tottered to customers and around tables. A certain pink hedgehog pranced along, a tray full of teacups and pastries balanced on one hand. She skirted tables with a genuine smile on her features, heading for a table at the far end of the cafe's patio.

"Hey Amy!"

A yelp and clatter of teacups and saucers followed the cat call, and Amy hurried to balance her tray before anything toppled to the ground. Smile gone, she turned to the source of the shout with heated abandon.

"What?!"

"Hey Amy," Sonic repeated, running in place. His static gait was only complimented by the ignorant smile that defined an overly smug expression.

"Sonic?" the pink one asked, her angered facade melting into one of delight. "When did you get back in town?"

"Five seconds ago," he answered. After waiting a few moments for a reply, he added, "Maybe thirty; traffic was heavy."

"Have you finally come back to _marry _me?"

"Ew, no!" He stopped his pacing, leaned on the wrought-iron fence that bordered the patio, and smiled as Amy rolled her eyes. "Tails called me."

"Is it about the vampires?"

The blue hedgehog had already taken off down the street as she made her inquiry, but just as soon did he screech to a halt, finally coming to the stop in the middle of a crosswalk. Amy had time to calmly and smugly pass her tray of tea and pastries to her waiting customers and return before Sonic had backtracked to their previous meeting place.

"Vampires?"

"It's been 'vampires this' and 'vampires that' for a while now. People are being bitten left and right these days," She explained, drawing her arms to her shoulders and shivering. "It's actually pretty creepy-"

"Sounds like fun!" Sonic called from halfway down the street. He smirked before turning and shooting off toward the next intersection, leaving Amy to wonder why she even bothered starting conversations with him.

The hedgehog continued on his way, running, bouncing, rolling, and drifting down the streets of Station Square. Not long after he left Amy, a voice crackled to life in his ear, projected by a hidden COM link.

"Sonic," came Tails' ever-childish voice. "How close are you?"

"I'm just hopping on the train," he replied, skidding sideways and shooting down into the train station. He jumped over the gates, slammed into the ceiling, bounced off of the platform and landed on the car of a departing locomotive. "This wouldn't happen to be about _vampires_, would it?"

"How'd you know?"

"A little pink-quilled birdie told me." He spoke, glancing over the edge. His own cerulean quills flapped in the wind as his ever-optimistic eyes gazed at the surroundings. Vampires in Station Square: that was certainly different. Water Gods: sure. Vengeful black hedgehogs: yeah. _Aliens_: check. But, vampires? That was a whole other kind of party, and he was already fashionably late.

"When do I get to meet these guys, anyway?"

"That's what we need to figure out; no one's actually _seen _a vampire yet. We have to find them, and find a way to get rid of them- before anyone else gets hurt. Even we're at risk."

For a brief second, the blue blur's trademark smile faded from his features.

"Eh; no Sonic Hero is going to become a vampire!"

"WHAT?!" He screamed, crossing the distance between himself and the bucket-hatted girl, who recoiled at his volume and advance. "I don't like how 'another' got into that statement!"

His previously congealed blood began to boil. They were face to face now, one wholly overbearing and the other completely inoffensive. This couldn't be happening; it _couldn't _be real! One minute he was... was... he couldn't remember what he had been doing, but he knew he had to have been alive: alive and damn well happy to be so! Now, _now, _he was a... a...

The girl couldn't possibly have flattened herself any thinner against the wall, and, luckily, the undead hedgehog backed off, glaring straight through the darkness at his only company. His body trembled and eyes gleamed, rocked and lit by an inferno of anger and loathing. It was the utter helplessness of the entire situation; there was nothing he could do to rectify it! Had he even put up a fight?! He turned from the girl, fearing he would angrily rend a limb from a socket if he faced her any longer.

"I'm a... a vampire." He stated, glaring at the opposite wall. It was covered from corner to corner in a black curtain, as if the fabric were the wall, itself.

"... Yes," his young informer confirmed. It was the most concise response she had given all night. Shadow instinctively drew in a breath as if to cope with the news he had already known and feared.

"And- you. Are you a-"

"Yes- but I didn't... bite you," The bucket hat lifted and just as quickly dropped again. "I don't know who bit you. I never see the other vampires."

"That was plural," He muttered, turning on the spot and taking in his surroundings; anything to divert his growing anger. The room was especially stark, save for a clock in the corner and doors on both sidewalls. "How many vampires am I going to have to-"

"Three-hundred and seventy-two," she cut in. Shadow stopped his turning, ironically facing her again. "That's how many there are of us, in this city."

"Us? I'm not _one of you_!" He slammed a fist into the wall, inches from the black canvas of a particular girl's headpiece. A hiss shot from his mouth before he could shut it, and in the silence that followed, he backed away again, this time turning and pacing toward the curtained wall.

"I'll kill every monster in this city before I say otherwise."

"You may want to wait two hours- until it's dark. You won't find us until it's dark. Besides... you'll just burn in the sunlight. That curtain is thick; it's stopping the daylight from getting in, even at the edges."

He stopped, a new fear bubbling up inside of him. All too suddenly he had been locked into the darkness of night, deathly allergic to the light of day. Presently, the only thing stopping a fate of live cremation was a simple curtain, which he had gotten unsettlingly close to.

"This is a safe house for vampires. Every room in this building is curtained off so new vampires won't die."

"Why would they die in the first place?"

"People who are bitten become vampires exactly twelve hours afterwards. Most vampires hunt at night, so their victims turn in the middle of the day. They burn before they even realize what's happened to them... It's... a way of controlling the population; if everyone we bit survived, we would double every night and run out of food."

"How do they pick who survives?"

"It depends on the vampire."

Another moment of silence passed in the room. Shadow moved away from the curtain, letting his back hit the adjacent wall. Eventually, he slipped down to the floor, staring dejectedly at the empty ceiling. He wanted nothing more than for it to be a witless dream, for him to wake up and still have a pulse!

The soft shuffling of the girl's footsteps caused her charge's ears to flick, and his eyes rolled around to find her crouching next to him. The hedgehog's fur rose as another awkward silence followed the sudden rendezvous.

"You only have to feed on one a night."

"One _life_ a night," he corrected. "I just have to _kill_ someone once a night. Heh; feed, one. You talk like you're not killing an innocent person. There's three-hundred and seventy-_one_ of _you_. That's at least three-hundred and seventy-one lives a night. That's one-hundred-thirty-five-thousand, four-hundred and fifteen lives a year... not including leaps," his tone had dropped to that of defeat. "I can't do this."

"Then, you can always burn." It was the most standoffish thing she had said the whole time. "Don't worry; a lot of people do it. You just have to open that curtain and you won't have to worry about anything anymore. You'll burn to death and then you'll be dead for good."

She stood up, walking around him and retrieving the fallen wall clock.

"You have two hours to do that."


	3. Meetings in the Dark

Chapter 2: Meetings in the Dark

Sunset was at 5:26 PM. Twilight ended exactly twenty-six minutes later. There was only darkness afterwards.

He couldn't do it.

For possibly the hundredth time since walking out of the black-curtained building, he touched a hand to his chest and heaved, checking for any signs of a beat or breath. For the hundredth time, there were no signs of life, save for his own consciousness and his body's movement.

It wasn't enough.

_I want to live._

He couldn't pull the curtains away. He couldn't even touch them. He had stood and paced in front of them for thirty minutes, braced himself to snatch them away, reached for the thick, black, velvet cloth- but he couldn't do it.

_I'm such a coward._

He'd kill for a living; that was it. He'd destroy lives, siphon blood from beating hearts, and leave people to burn in the sun so that he could stay alive. It was only three-hundred and sixty-five a year: that was what he told himself over and over. He had passed half that many over a few blocks having left the vampires' apartment complex.

_It's not a huge dent._

Lenore- that was the girl's name, he had learned- told him he had to.. to _feed_. He was "new," she had explained. He hardly had any blood; someone had taken it all. He'd have to replenish it soon, and that fact terrified him.

_Who's walking behind-_

"Hey, faker!"

He spun around, realizing all-too-quickly that the emerald gaze that met his own was in fact that of the one person he really didn't want to see: Sonic.

"Oh, no. Not you," Shadow sighed, cutting the gesture short when he felt no air under his palate. He simply turned and continued walking. "_Spare_ me."

His blue counterpart only circled around, coming to stop directly in his path. He even hopped from side to side as his dark target attempted to dodge around him.

"C'mon, Shadow; at least make this difficult!"

"And humor you? I wouldn't think of it," he mumbled, ears flattening. "What do you want, anyway?"

"_Your blood_!"

"What?!" Shadow yelped, taking a few steps from the hog. His ears fell against his quills, and his expression contorted into one of panic. "You- what? My w_hat_?!"

A car passed by, its engine much more apparent in the stark silence that had fallen over the two heroes. Sonic stared at his would-be rival, who was now a trembling mess. Shadow took another step backward.

"...Uh, okay. Beyond Relax."

"Shadow, are you okay?" The hedgehog in question jumped and spun around, finding himself face to face with a familiar fox, who wore the same confused expression as his blue role model. "He was just joking; it was just a joke. We're trying to get a lead on these vampire attacks."

"Oh," Came the panicking hog's quick reply. He looked between the two before turning from them, shaking his head. The situation was far too ironic to bear; he was all the lead they needed. For a split second, he thought of telling them what he was, revealing his new found identity. He even contemplated their reactions; none were the least bit favorable. He, himself, didn't yet know what he'd do- whether he'd let himself die or kill so that he may live. The future looked meek, and he again wished that life were much simpler, or present at all.

"Have you heard anything? We could use all the information we can get," Tails continued, glancing past the stricken hedgehog and at his blue doppleganger before turning his attention back.

"No; I don't know anything. Sorry," Shadow muttered, his air blades switching on. He jetted down the street without a parting glance or word, and Tails scratched his head as he watched the black blur fade away.

"That was weird," he stated, glancing at the only other hedgehog on the street.

"Shadow's weird," his friend replied, holding his hands up and shrugging. The confused expression had faded back to the usual smirk. Tails just shook his head.

"Maybe we should-"

"My thoughts exactly!" Sonic cut in, his legs blurring into a trademark figure-eight before he launched down the side walk. At that point, it didn't matter if the fox meant to say "split up" or not; the antsy hedgehog was far from start before he even contemplated an alternate finish. He had again worked his way onto the rooftops of the city, pausing only momentarily to scout for any signs of blood-sucking activity.

"Nope."

He shot off again, his path marked by the azure streak that followed his high-speed movements. His next stop was halfway up a large skyscraper, hanging onto a window sill with one hand and forming a visor with his other.

"Nope."

One vertical wall-run later, the hedgehog raced down an empty byway, yawning at the utter lack of excitement.

Halfway across the city, Shadow's pace had slowed to a depressing crawl. Undeath had gotten a bit more depressing; sooner or later- if he didn't kill himself, of course- he'd have to kill someone else, and confront Sonic and his pals, or maybe do both at the same time. _One_ of them had to be curious about what it was like to be a vampire...

"What am I thinking?" He groaned, placing a hand to his head. His ears flicked again at a sudden flutter hitting them, and his eyes rolled upward toward the source of the sound. There, leaning over the rail of a rusting fire escape was a particular bucket hat, ringlets of crimson locks cascading from said headpiece.

"Do you understand how freaky that is?"

"I wanted.. to make sure you ate- tonight," she mumbled. The fire escape creaked as she scampered down the metal stairway, hopping down onto the litter-strewn street. The movement was surprising fluid and even more startlingly quick. "We should go now."

"No, _we_ shouldn't," Shadow spat, continuing down the sidewalk. "_I_ have twelve hours. _You_ should leave me alone."

"You're not going to do it without me. I know you're not."

"I don't need you to-"

"Just!" Lenore yelled, her voice echoing down the empty street and shocking her audience to silence. "Just.. Follow me. You're a vampire; be a vampire. What else do you have to do tonight?"

A few minutes later found Shadow jumping along the rooftops of Station Square, but he wasn't alone; he crossed an alley alongside the black bucket-hat, its concealed wearer leaping over alleyways with as much ease as her follower. She glanced down into every gap she cleared, her hat spinning around occasionally as she made sure her newest charge was still there.

"You can't pick out anyone that's on the streets. Someone is bound to see you," She whispered. They crossed another gap, both looking down into the empty alley before hitting the next rooftop and continuing on their way. "Alleyways, parks: those are the best places to find someone. And you have to make sure there are no security cameras around. That means no parking complexes, no buildings."

The buildings were getting taller, and the pair climbed higher over the city. Lenore paused twelve stories over a busy street and looked over the edge.

"We don't draw suspicion. We don't follow anyone. Whoever we find- the first person that works- we take. We don't make assumptions or wonder about who it is, and we definitely do not pass up anyone."

Shadow glanced down into the streets. Admittedly, it did feel good to not break a sweat or even breathe heavily, but the price for infinite dexterity...

"Oh, and about that one-hundred-thousand... whatever," She added, backing away from the guard rail and crossing over to the opposite side and looking down. "That not true. A lot of us go in packs- oh, _there's one_."

It took a moment for the hedgehog to realize what she meant by "there's one," but it eventually came to him, and he slowly made for the opposite side of the roof. There in the alley were two, one leaning out of a back door, the other handing over one article or another.

"Don't think about them," Lenore whispered, a sudden sinister air to her usually placid voice. Shadow glanced at her, afraid to speak lest he heard a hiss to his own words. His hands shook as they gripped the rail. "It won't be so bad after this."

She grabbed him, spinning him around until they faced each other, hardly the meek girl she had been before the sun had set.

"You have to do it."

"Do what?"

"_Bite_ him!"

His eye twitched again, and he turned his gaze back to the alley. The guy was still there, shoving a wad of bills into the inner pocket of his wind breaker. He could have been anyone, and he was, at least, _someone_. Who he was, the hedgehog didn't know, but he was _someone_.

"I can't."

"You have to!"

"I can't bite a cow? That's like.. a vampire hamburger-"

"No! _It doesn't work!_"

"Stop hissing at me," he mumbled. The backdoor slammed, causing the two undead denizens to flinch and glance back into the alley. The young man was walking away. "We can find someone else."

"_What's the difference between someone else and him? _You're just putting off what you're going to have to do regardless!"

"_Stop hissing at me,_" he hissed back, thoroughly put off by the young girl's sudden tenacity. He shook his head and sighed, but the absence of breath again caused him to stop early. "Alright. I'll do it... Just what do I have to do?"

"Just bite his neck. It's pretty automatic; instinct will do the rest. Don't let him get suspicious; just attack from behind."

Shadow climbed onto the guard rail, taking one glance at the human who had stopped to light a cigarette. This was it. He couldn't not call himself a vampire any more. He'd be a murderer. He'd be a monster. He hoped that guy had, until now, lived a sorry existence. Maybe he'd been a criminal, or a backstabber: anything to even partially justify his life being snatched away in the blink of an eye...

The hedgehog leaped from the rooftop, curled into a ball and shot into the alley, rebounding from one wall to another as he made his speedy approach. The man had started back on his trek, completely unaware that had but seconds to enjoy his cigarette. Shadow hit the ground behind him, sliding backwards. His sights were set; he was completely aligned for the kill. He'd attack the right side and go straight for an artery! The hedgehog launched toward his target with all intent of tearing his throat wide open. His gums stretched and teeth pushed together as canines grew into formidable fangs.

It terrified him.

The man stopped, drawing in another breath through his lit cigarette just as a black ball shot past, barely missing his head. It was enough to cause him to shout and stumble backwards in shock, said panic only subsiding when he recognized the hero that uncurled from the ball and tumbled a few feet down the alley.

"What the Hell?" he exclaimed as the hedgehog got to his feet. "What kind of stunt was that?!"

"_S-Sorry_," Shadow spat out, turning to face his would-be victim. He flinched as said words slipped out as another unexpected hiss, and again when the man's face stretched into an expression of pure terror.

"Oh, damn. Fangs."

"_Kill him! He'll tell everyone!_"

The guy's head snapped upward at the screech which escaped from under the the bucket hat, then dropped back to his self-revealed attacker. He turned on a heel, dropping his smoke, and took off the way he came.

"_He'll tell everyone!_"

Shadow glared at the girl on the roof and took off after at his escaping prey. _Now_ things had become a matter of life and undeath; he couldn't let anyone know what he was, he couldn't let anyone know of what he had already tried to do! The man banged futilely on the back door, shot a terrified look at his pursuer, and turned tail again, but even that was all for naught; barely a yelp left his throat as the obsidian predator slammed into him, a sharp screech echoing down the narrow byway as both forms lefts the ground.

He felt his fangs embed themselves in flesh and his mouth fill with blood. It was warm, it was thick, and- for some odd, implacable reason- it tasted _great_! Neither salty nor sweet, bitter or rich. He couldn't place the taste, but he swallowed it all in one gulp and even took another swig...

The two hit the ground rolling, and it was Shadow who pushed himself from the ground with a quiet chuckle. His whole body had warmed, as if he had drunk hot chocolate. He could do nothing but cough out another laugh... and another...

Something wasn't right again. His lungs were uncomfortably full. He had to exhale to clear them, but they filled again, and again, and again.

"Breathing.. I'm breathing..." He mumbled, sitting back. He snatched a hand to his chest, and felt his own heart racing. Not even a normal beat- no; it was pulsing, and doing a damn good job of it! He sucked in air, coughed, and laughed again, jumping to his feet and staggering back from the dead body in front of him. He stared at it, still laughing, a hand over his heart. He gleamed without a bit of remorse, and laughed even more; he was alive- somehow, alive- and it felt great!

"Someone's coming," Came Lenore's strangely light voice. "Get back up here!"

There was an ambulance in short time. The man behind the door had in fact heard his guest's frantic banging, and had walked into the alley to see nothing but a half dead body and a pool of blood. Shadow and Lenore watched from the rooftops as first responders rushed the dying man into a truck and police officers interrogated the discoverer of the scene.

"They'll give him transfusions," the bucket hat explained. "But they'll leave him right in front of a window. In twelve hours, he'll turn into a vampire and they'll find charcoal on the gurney."

Shadow watched as well, a smirk still plastered on his face and a hand still flattened against his chest. His heart beat had slowed to something normal, but it was still there. The girl glanced at him, before shaking her head.

"It feels great: living again," She whispered. "But it won't last long."

It was the part where his heart was supposed to stop, and it did. The hedgehog swallowed nervously and turned to her with a furrowed brow.

"What?"

"Drinking the living blood of another individual grants you a brief respite from death, but it will fade. You don't have much time to enjoy your pulse."

"I-"

"You're still undead, and you're still a vampire. If you want to breathe again, you'll bite someone tomorrow night." Her statement was enough to make anyone curl into a ball and cry. Shadow had time to turn away from the rail before his legs gave out and he crumpled into a heap against the parapet, taking on the same dejected stare as in the black-curtained room..

"You were really sloppy. We could have shared that guy," he heard his young instructor mumble. She really wasn't the same girl she was before sundown. "I'm going. You should get back to the building before sunrise."

He didn't hear her leave. He had long since left the world to its own devices, paying all attention to his respirations and heartbeats. The hedgehog sat there for three hours, not moving lest he upset some fading biological rhythm, lest he miss a single pump or rush of air. Over three hours, he felt his breath lighten to nothing, and his heart slow to a stop.

It was a death no less torturous than his first.


	4. Hope Springs

Chapter 3: Hope Springs

"Hey, Shadow; wake up," Sonic cooed, nudging one of his rival's airblades with a foot. "Wakey-wakey."

It was dark out, but it wouldn't stay that way for long. The blue hedgehog had run around the city all night in search of his elusive, nocturnal party throwers, with no luck. More peeving was the fact that he had missed one while elsewhere in the city.

"Well, this is where the vampire struck," Tails mused, looking over the guardrail at the taped-off crime scene. "The witness said the attack couldn't have taken more than a couple seconds. He said he answered the door right after the guy started banging on it."

"Fast and evil. Sounds a lot like Shadow," Sonic laughed, pulling on the apparently sleeping hedgehog's ear. The guy seemed more dead than snoozing, and if it wasn't for the thick, white gloves on the azure animal's hands, Shadow's utter lack of body heat would have confirmed his non-living state. "Man, he doesn't snore at all."

"You think he saw the vampire?" Tails asked, his words muffled by a yawn. "If he looks anything like how he did before he was bitten, maybe I could dig up something on him today."

The two heroes' chit-chatter had long stirred their ally from sleep, which he was surprised death had even afforded him. Sometime that night he had actually drifted off, tossing in his sleep until he ended up curled against the parapet. Despite the backwards position, his ears managed to flicked toward the voices and he snapped from dormancy, spinning around to the surprised- and then, confused- looks of Sonic and Tails.

"What?"

"You have a little something-" the blue furry pointed to the corner of his mouth- "there. And-" he moved his finger to his chin- "There."

"Shadow... is that blood?"

A silent moment again passed between the three. Shadow's mind was already a maelstrom- and he had just woken up! It was over; they were going to figure out everything! His ears went flat as he looked between the two. He was going to have to kill them...

"He punched me," The black hedgehog stuttered, ears returning to their usual alert position. "Uh. The vampire- _a_ vampire. He attacked someone and he..."

Another moment of silence followed. His audience raised their brows.

"... Punched. Me," he finished, raising his hand to try and wipe away his victim's blood. "What are you guys doing out this late, anyway?"

"_Late_? It's 6:20 in the morning!"

"What?!" Shadow jumped to his feet, looking around at the skyline for any signs of a breaking dawn. The horizons were still dark, but he didn't know how long said conditions would remain. "Oh, Hell!"

Even Sonic couldn't understand what the rush was, but before he or Tails could ask, their dark friend shot off into the alley, a black blur following him out onto a street.

"Do you believe that?" Tails asked, his namesake appendages flicking as his mind turned over the previous exchange.

"Nope," Sonic replied, crossing his arms and tapping a foot. "The roofs are a lot quicker..."

The fox glanced at his true blue friend, before letting his eyes droop and yawning once more.

"We have to think of a better way of catching the vampires."

Shadow rushed down the streets, mindlessly cutting through an intersection and barely missing becoming undead roadkill. He had slept till the dawn; it was the most insipid thing he had done in his entire existence! He growled at himself, shaking his head and drifting around a corner. A few times he considered hiding out in a dumpster until nightfall, but there was always the chance that a ray of sunlight could leak through a well-placed crack.

That, and he was still too proud to sleep the day away in a dumpster.

The safe house was on the outskirts of the city. From the front, it looked like an old apartment building, save for the double-doorway and first two floors of windows, which had been filled in with bricks to keep trespassers away. Even the fire escapes had been removed. Approaching the odd edifice, Shadow couldn't help but wonder how many new vampires had been dropped off in the night, or how many lives would wither away in the morning sunlight.

The windows were left open on the third-, fourth-, and fifth-floors; they were the only way into or out of the building. Shadow had watched Lenore scale the face of a high-rise on just her hands and feet, galloping up the brick siding as if she were on level ground. He had done it, too; it was as simple as the black-garbed girl had made it seem- almost as if gravity itself had switched from the level earth to the concrete tower.

A smirk appeared on his features, and his skid to a halt at the stoop of the safe house. His head tilted upward, eyes tracing a jagged path from brick to brick, eventually reaching the third window on the fourth window on the fourth floor. It opened to the room he had died in, the room it had all started in. The night before, some vampire had dragged him there to die and join the ranks. He placed his hands against the cool bricks. The building drew him toward it, the ground pushed him away, and the hedgehog raced up the side of the apartment, clearing three stories in less time than it would have taken him to skate the same distance.

On the outskirts, the city was rather peaceful. Shadow sat on the window sill, taking in his dark surroundings. His eyesight had improved immensely; he could see clear as day, straight across to what little bit of the horizon was viewable past the clutter of skyscrapers that was Station Square.

A crow landed on the sill next to his, its little head spinning around and glancing at its neighbor, before cawing and settling on its little perch.

"_It won't be that bad,_" a voice rattled over the cry. Shadow recoiled and looked around for whoever had spoken, before his gaze snapped back to the obsidian bird.

"... Why is a crow talking to me?" The hedgehog muttered to himself, turning away from the bird.

"_New guy,_" It cawed again, wings stretching their entire span.

"Why am I _listening_ to a crow," he muttered again, staring defiantly at the horizon. His eyes eventually wandered back to his avian neighbor, and found a teenage cat sitting in it's place. He was staring at his overly-confused company with a smug expression, but Shadow simply looked back at the skyline and shook his head.

"Cool, huh?"

"Not until I learn how to do it. What happened to the bat?"

"Bats cause _rabies_. Not vampirism."

"Crows cause West Nile," he smirked, watching as a flock of the birds landed on the rooftop. The cat shook his head and smiled.

"Not these crows," he continued. "I'm not sure where the bat thing came from. I guess they were just the black sheep, but, between you and me, I see a lot more crows hanging around the corpses and the graveyards than bats. Usually it's us, but I guess we've got the real one's doing it, too. Have you eaten, tonight?"

"Yeah... why does everyone care-"

"Then you're staying out today?"

Another awkward moment passed by, but Shadow quickly spun around and dragged the black curtains apart.

"Lenore! Where the _Hell_ are you?!" he yelled, jumping into the room. "Where's that _damn_ blood sucker..."

"My name is Blair, by the way."

"Shadow. Nice to meet you- LENORE!"

"That's so... dark..."

One of the doors creaked open, the bucket hat trotting into the room. Her eyes were covered by her favorite headpiece, but her attitude was rather apparent.

"Don't look at me like that," Shadow growled. "You told me I had to be back by dawn!"

"I did?" She asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "Well, I didn't mean that. As long as you feed during the night, you can walk in the day. You won't see very well, though. Probably shouldn't operate heavy machinery."

"Thanks for the information," Shadow muttered, wondering why she made undeath so difficult. He headed back toward the window, but his little informer grabbed his wrist. Her hat bobbed toward the cat, who was leaning in past the curtains. He simply shrugged and disappeared back the way he came, the curtains billowing as his feathered form took off.

"I didn't tell you before because it wouldn't have mattered," she began, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking back and forth cheerfully. "I had to make sure you'd be a good vampire, or you wouldn't live to even have a chance at this... there's a way for you to go back."

Her audience spun on the spot, his urgent expression imploring an explanation. Lenore stopped rocking, crossing her arms in front of her.

"If you bite the vampire that bit you and take your blood back, you'll take your _life_ back. Your life for the one's who took it."

It was the cheeriest news he had heard since dying; it wasn't too late to live again! He was still unable to form words, but again his expression was all that was needed to communicate.

"If you can bite him, the breath and pulse you steal will be your own, and you won't lose it. You'll kill them though-"

"I don't care about that. Whoever it was deserves to die," he stated flatly. All he had to do to live was kill his killer; if that wasn't karma, he didn't know what was. "Of course, now I see why you prefer to leave everyone in the sun."

"Er... You have to remember who killed you, though."

It was like she delighted in delivering bad news, but he had to admit that he still didn't remember being bitten. He didn't remember what he had been the past several days. He barely remember what he had been doing in the past month...

He took that back; he didn't even remember that!

"I... Uh... I don't..."

"When someone's bitten; their memory of the event is wiped as well. No doubt, if we knew who had turned us, we'd bite each other back and get back to our lives. Not a very good way of maintaining a healthy population," she explained. "_Plus_, most people bitten don't even see the faces of their attackers, so it's relatively unlikely that they ever find them. But, I figured I'd tell you, just in case you managed to remember."

He sighed, ears lowering.

"You're an evil little girl; did you know that?"


	5. Just an Inkling

**[A/N]** Hello, everyone! I'd like to thank all of my readers and reviewers thus far; It's you all that encourage me to keep writing! I've actually had six chapters and the prologue ready when I started posting this fic, hence the very quick updates; however, I'll be returning to college this weekend, and my update rate will slow down. I do plan to get in at least one chapter a week, so bear with me!

Also, I try to stay very true to the characters, and even refer to some content from the games! The most tweaked characters so far are Shadow (obviously), Amy (with her job), and Rouge (you'll see, below ^^), and I don't plan on butchering anymore. Also, there are no couplings in this fic. ^^;; That being said, I hope everyone continues to enjoy this story! Peace OWT!

* * *

Chapter 4: Just an Inkling...

Sunrise was at exactly 7:00 AM.

The light still burned. It hit his retinas like acid, and his dead sockets failed to produce any extra tears. His vision, which had become so acute in the darkness, was nothing but a bright, blurry mess in the sunshine.

It had made his first flight Hell.

"_I don't see why anyone would want to come out in the day,_" his avian self garbled. A second bird banked past him, successfully throwing the red-eyed crow to the side and out of the way of a passing truck.

"_You'll get used to it,_"

"_Before or after I hit another telephone pole?_"

By the grace of God, his talons wrapped around a power line, which wobbled as the second bird landed as well.

"_This is probably the one thing keeping us from being hunted down. Imagine three-hundred and seventy-two random people suddenly refusing to leave their houses in the morning... you're vision will get better during the day. The burning won't stop, though._"

"_How comforting._"

"_Do you remember anything yet?_"

"_It's been ten minutes._"

"_You'll have to get back to your life_," the cat-gone-crow mused. "_Do you remember your friends?_"

"_More like acquaintances,"_ the hedgehog-gone-crow replied, closing his screaming eyes to think. "_The faker, his fox friend, the loud, pink girl, the echidna, Rouge, Omega._"

"_Well, I know where your allegiances lie._"

"_Shut up_," he cawed. "_Those two I can actually tolerate._"

He shook his head. Rouge and Omega were possibly the sole people in the world he'd ever label as "friends;" they'd been through enough together to warrant the titles. He hadn't heard from Omega in a long while- he and Rouge had been contracted by the G.U.N.

"_I work for it, too,_" He cackled, a flicker of recollection jumping from whatever chamber it had been locked in. "_Rouge and I were, or are, on leave. Nothing had happened in a while... not since Black Doom._"

He looked back and forth as if searching his mind for the rest of the thought, but only pulled a blank.

"_You guys can really do a number._"

"_You should find Rouge._"

An hour later saw the dark hero flying solo. The cat had hung around long enough for him to get his bearings; his eyes still burned, but the images had gotten sharper. The world was still bright as Hell, but at least he could make out a bus from a mailbox.

Half the time.

His talons touched down on a flag pole, and his head swiveled around, allowing his eyes to settle on the earth-toned blur that just happened to be the large awning that shaded the patio of Dawn Café. A bit of mental scrambling had allowed him to recall a bit more of his and his "acquaintances'" lives. Tails had a workshop in the Mystic Ruins, and it was the most likely place to find Sonic, who never stayed in town long. Knuckles was guarding his precious Master Emerald on Angel Island. Amy worked at the establishment he was currently stalking. It was amazing; he remembered plenty of his most recent interactions with his least acquainted allies, but could hardly remember anything about Rouge and Omega.

The crow took flight again, this time swooping into a nearby alley. Only seconds later, the black and red hedgehog trudged out of the same byway, rubbing an eye with a gloved hand. It didn't help. He sighed, ignoring the nonexistent breath and crossing the street to the café.

Amy bounced along the sidewalk in her usual, chipper mood. The day was already looking great; Sonic was in town, after all. She turned the corner, running a hand along the cool, wrought-iron fence of the patio before stopping in her tracks. Smiling lightly, she continued on her path over to the dark form leaning against the metal partition.

"Sorry, sir; the café doesn't open until nine," she chuckled, walking into the hedgehog's line of sight and waving. She smiled wider when his eyes darted to meet hers, but said gleam shrunk as his lids half-closed. "Grumpy already?"

"I was hoping you worked, today," Shadow muttered. He looked to the side before paying full attention to the pink girl. "Sorry; I am a bit... grumpy."

Amy blinked before fully focusing on the hog. He was tense; she could hardly see him breathing. His eyes looked as if he hadn't winked in ages; they didn't have any glimmer to them.

"Is something wrong?"

"I can't remember some things."

"_Again_?"

"Ouch, Amy."

Within a few minutes, Shadow was sitting at a table in the nature-themed café. He watched as Amy and a few other employees prepared for a busy day; he couldn't help but think how easily any of them could be picked off by a vampire in less than twelve hours.

"Just what don't you remember?" Amy asked from behind the counter as she continued her morning multitasking.

"Rouge, Omega... or what I've been doing," he raised a brow as the pink hero shot him an odd look. "What?"

"The G.U.N. has Omega," She told, wiping off the counter. "Rouge has been managing her club. You know; Club Rouge? That's where you've been, too, actually. You _live_ there."

Her words bounced around his head, knocking open chests full of information he hadn't before been able to reach. Rouge had had her club for a while- since before they were let off by the military. The place was actually rather popular. Shadow had made a back room his personal abode, but he rarely used it, especially since the club's latest sound system literally shook the place to it's foundations.

"How could I forget," he mumbled. "Would you happen to know where I was two days ago?"

"Mm. No. I don't see you _that_ often. Somewhere in the city?"

"... Thanks."

"What happened to you, anyway?"

"I was hit by a car."

"You weren't!"

"I was hit by a bus."

"That's not funny!"

"I homing-attacked a concrete wall."

"That's-... slightly more believable..."

"_What_?!"

----

It was over the news in less than an hour: _Suspected Vampire-Bite Burns in Afternoon Sun_. The family was suing the hospital. News reporters had swamped the intensive care unit. Amy watched the report on a television within the café's break room; the man had gone into both cardiac and respiratory arrest, then burst into flames.

Her fur raised, and she again drew her palms to her shoulders and shivered; she couldn't imagine suffering through such a death. Even Eggman had never invented such diabolical methods of destruction as the vampires were using.

"We're not safe in our own city," one of her fellow employees spoke. The pink hedgehog glanced at her and shook her head.

"Mr. Londre said he may start closing the café down at five so we can get home before dark," her friend continued, looking up in thought. "It's a tragedy; I could really use those hours we're about to lose."

"Well, it's better than getting bitten by a vampire, Mary," Amy replied. "I hope Sonic and Tails don't get caught."

"Oh, a vampiric, super-sonic hedgehog is just what we need right about now! .... Oh yeah, I forgot; Tails is here to see you."

Amy shot her an exasperated look; the girl was a _true _airhead, sometimes. Regardless, she skipped out of the room, crossed the dining area, and exited the establishment. Tails was waiting outside, sitting on the metal railing.

"Hey Amy!" He greeted, waving with as much animation as his friend. "Have you heard about that vampire?"

"Oh, yeah; it's all over the news. That poor guy..."

"We're trying to find the one that bit him," Tails mused aloud, rubbing his chin. "Shadow may have even seen the right one, but now we can't find him."

The fox cocked his head as his pink friend took on a surprised expression.

"I just saw Shadow a few hours ago. He was looking for Rouge and Omega. He had-"

"Do you know where he went?" The fox cut in, tails wagging. "If I could talk to him, we may be able to get to this vampire!"

"I think he was going to Rouge's apartment, or the club," She replied, an bit of annoyance on her voice for being cut off. "The club doesn't open 'till later, anyway, so that only leaves one option."

"Thanks Amy!" The young kit exclaimed, turning to leave. He stopped a few steps into his departure, instead turning back to his informative friend. "Has he been acting weird to you?"

A few seconds of silence passed before Amy responded.

"He wasn't acting weird, but there was something... creepy about him. He seemed really tired," she paused as if to gather her thoughts. "To be honest, he came here because he had lost his memory again. He couldn't remember what he had been doing since he and Rouge came back. He wouldn't tell me what had happened to him, either."

"Oh," came the fox's only reply. His tails flicked as he thought, but he finally turned to leave, holding up a hand and smiling. "Thanks, again, Amy!"

----

Rouge had landed herself a penthouse. The club had generated more than enough funds for her to surround herself in the kind of class she self-righteously deserved- not that she had paid for _everything_; she had to keep her world's-greatest treasure-hunting-slash-thieving skills in tip-top shape _somehow._

"Just lower the cover charge," She airily spoke into her cell. "We still have a couple months to plan this, anyway; I don't see why you're obsessing over it, now."

The white bat waltzed over to a mahogany cabinet, pinning the phone between her shoulder and ear as she pulled out a glass and wine bottle.

"You're a depressing floor man," She sighed. "I don't pay you to doubt everything I think up. Look- don't worry, tonight's the only night you have to have your mind on, and unless you have something about that to whine over, I'll talk to you later."

She flipped the cell down and tossed it onto the cabinet, before sauntering into the living room and stretching out on her sofa. The daytime was rather boring. She ran a club, after all; she was a creature of the night! The sun no longer had much importance to her at all, besides providing warm spots to nap under.

The young bat just sipped wine and glanced idly out of the window. The television was blaring some news report- vampires, again- but she tuned it out in favor of the soft hum of downtown. She could care less about whoever still had to nerve to walk around in the dead of night, knowing full-well such creatures were running around.

The wine shined in the sunlight, more brilliant than the myriad rubies Rouge had collected over the years. Who was it that first bottled such beauty? She held the glass to the window, letting the sun illuminate the jewel-like liquid. It was deep... crimson... sanguine... and it made the bat realize just how thirsty she really was.

The window pane rattled, snapping the bat out of her trance. She turned to the glass, frowning at the crow which had landed on the flower box. It's red eyes fixated on her for a split second, before it took off, hovered, and again landed back amongst the purple coneflowers. The black bird cawed and tapped the glass before turning its back to the window and looking over a wing.

"Go away," The exasperated bat muttered, pulling a throw pillow over her face. She couldn't get any peace today; if it wasn't the floor man, it was a raven. She peeked from under the pillow; it was still there.

"Not now!" She spat, tossing the stuffed square at the window and smiling as the bird took flight. She sighed and took another quaff of wine, but almost choked as the window rattled a second time.

She jumped up with a growl, stomping over to the large window and staring the bird in its scarlet eyes. Not breaking the glare, she reached to either side of her, grabbed the thick velvet curtains, and snatched them closed. The room was plunged into sheer darkness, or it would have been, had the TV not cast its own light about the space. Rouge looked around, hands still clasping the fabric, and half closed her eyes.

"Oh, right," she sighed again, pulling the drapes open. A certain black-and-red hedgehog stared back, causing her to yelp and jump back in surprise.

"Heheh, that was _worth_ it," Shadow said with a smirk, sliding the window pane up. "Hello, Rouge."

He paused once his shoes hit the carpet; her expression still had a look of disbelief, and he shook his head and closed the window.

"I don't have blood on my face... I'm not hissing... I don't have fangs," He checked aloud, turning his attention back to her. "And... you're not naked. What?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Standing here wondering why you're so surprised that I'm here. I always invite myself in," he stated flatly, before lightening his tone. "Or, I think I did."

A moment of silence passed between the two. Rouge sat down and placed her glass on the coffee table, before fumbling, retrieving it, and getting back on her feet.

"Lost your memory," she stated offhandedly, taking another sip from the glass. "What happened?"

Shadow leaned against the windowsill, glancing through the pane at the brown splotch that was a corner of Dawn Cafe's awning. It was several blocks down the street, but his day vision left the would-be clear image a blurry mess. He smirked as his previous conversation with Amy came back to mind.

"The popular theory is that I threw myself into a wall."

"So, you don't remember what happened to you at all?"

"Not a thing," he wryly chuckled out, turning his eyes back to the white bat. "That's why I came here. It happened two days ago; you wouldn't happen to know where I was, would you?"

"Of course I know! You were at Club Rouge, remember? You got into a fight, there! You had the police busting in and everything!" She sighed, putting a hand to her head. "Of all things, you forget the night Club Rouge got shut down!"

"_You've got to lighten up, Shadow," Rouge laughed from behind the counter. She fixed herself a daiquiri, blissfully ignoring her friend's annoyed stare. The bat simply shrugged and spun over the counter, landing on beat with the R&B music that was playing throughout the club. It was still early, so the establishment hadn't gotten the real DJ behind the tables just yet._

"_You do realize you're too young to be drinking that, right?"_

"_Oooh; you _definitely_ need to relax; It's virgin."_

"_Only because it's ear-" he stopped short of a full statement as his audience's features became unsettlingly close to his. His fur and quills rose at the awkwardness, but as he leaned back, she just leaned closer._

"_R-E-L-A-X," she spelled out, voice barely above a whisper. "You wouldn't keep coming here during open hours if you didn't like the scene, so you might-as-well loosen up."_

_Their muzzles were less than an inch apart, and he couldn't bring himself to increase the distance- not that he could if were to try; a chill ran down his spine as she wrapped her arms around his neck, the daiquiri chilling the air at his back._

"_That, or you hate this place and just like hanging around me!"_

"_Rouge, I," His voice trailed off as his overly nervous gaze moved from aquamarine eyes to glaring sockets. Some punk across the room had watched the whole event, a heated expression plastered on his features. He shook his head and turned to a buddy, muttered something, and shot the hedgehog a dirty look, which Shadow eagerly returned. The dark hedgehog broke away from the bat, swiping the frozen, "non-alcoholic" drink away in the process._

"_Save it for the echidna, Bat-Girl."_

That much he remembered. He couldn't imagine what had come over her, that time; he was used to her empty come-ons, but until then, they had been contact-free.

He shook his head and glanced at the bat, who was taking another sip of the wine and staring thoughtfully out to a building across the street. Her eyes flicked toward him for a split second, before returning to the street outside.

"Is that it?" He asked, "What about after it closed?"

Rouge continued to gaze out of the window before finishing the last bit of wine off. He'd never seen her drink anything so fast.

"I don't know; after the police reports were filled, we locked the club down and split up."

He sighed, his eyes rolling toward the ceiling. The trail had suddenly become dead cold. Rouge walked back over to the wine cabinet and set her glass down.

"Why don't you just forget about it for now," She began, pouring herself another glass. "If something happened, it'll either come up on its own, or fade away from insignificance. Who knows; maybe you did run into a wall."

"I doubt it."

"Club Rouge is opening back up tonight. You should stop by and try to-"

"R-E-L-A-X, right?"


	6. Club Rouge

Chapter 5: Club Rouge

The sun set at 6:49 PM. Twilight ended exactly twenty-seven minutes later.

Club Rouge opened at 7:30. The young founder and her entourage of employees had been setting up for the night, and it was the floor man who unlocked the doors for the already formed line of clubbers. Within a few hours, the building was filled to bursting and the bass was blasting.

Rouge fixed herself another margarita. Long after Shadow had left, Tails had stopped by, asking about him. He and Sonic were supposedly hunting down a particular vampire, and needed a certain hedgehog's help. She turned him away as politely as she could.

The young bat rested her chin on interlocked fingers, staring into her colorful drink, ignoring the thirst that had been building up since that morning; the stuff now looked more like plastic craft gems than any kind of diamond or ruby. She sighed as some club hopper took a seat on the bar stool next to hers, and she nested her cheek on her hands, facing the other way.

"You invite me here and don't even say 'hello?'" Shadow asked, his voice light. Rouge's head snapped back toward him, and she gave a half-hearted smirk.

"Oh, I didn't think you'd actually come."

"I almost didn't; what's with the twenty-dollar cover charge?" He asked with a chuckle, turning toward the bartender. "Bloody Mary."

Rouge stared at the obsidian hero, brows raised. Who was the guy next to her, and what had he done with the angst-riddled hedgehog she knew and liked? He turned to her, reading her confused expression, and shrugged, a goofy smirk on his face.

"I'm just glad it's finally dark out. The sun's been annoying me all day."

"I bet," she muttered, pulling the bell-shaped margarita glass to her lips. She looked down as a sudden weight pushed it back down to the counter.

"You killed a whole bottle of wine already," Shadow stated sternly, taking his hand from the glass. "You know, if something's up, you should probably say something."

"Yeah we're totally here for you!"

She pushed the hedgehog backwards, putting all effort into glaring past him at the random cat that had sat himself on his other side.

"You don't look eighteen, kid," She grumbled. "And you're definitely not twenty-one."

"Would you believe I was a-hundred-and-" His doubtful statement was cut short as Shadow back-handed him off the stool. The dark furry just shook his head, pulling his newly-made drink toward him.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't just assault that guy and warn you that you're about to drink hot sauce," Rouge sighed, glancing at her floored guest. "Jeez; that's pretty-much how it all started last time."

"_We're on extended leave," She shrugged, leaning into the booth's cushioned back and idly inspecting a cocktail glass. Her floor man sat next to her, though he had turned himself toward the dance floor and was generally ignoring the conversation. "That means you can live a little. Things have been so busy, lately; the 'Sonic Heroes' finally have some time to relax. You should join in."_

"_I am relaxed," his memory-self responded with a huff. "I don't like clubs."_

"_Then stop wasting space," Someone snidely laughed. The sound grew; whoever it was was walking right up to the table. Shadow turned, ears burning as he recognized the speaker as the punk he had met eyes with earlier, and he was flanked by the same goons who had crowded him before. _

"_This isn't exactly a goth hangout."_

"_Quit it," he had heard Rouge snap, luckily before he could begin to exchange words. "I don't entertain drama in the club."_

"_You're the one bringing it in!" The lizard laughed. His posse snickered behind him. "He's not your kind; you're just going to cause problems."_

"_Who said anything about-"_

"_Oh, good. I was getting worried!" He exclaimed, leaning over the table and blocking the two Heroes. "Nevermind, then."_

"_Don't you have somewhere to be?" Shadow growled. He smelled alcohol on guy's breath, and grabbed his shoulder to push him off the table. "Why don't you go order yourself another dri-"_

_He stopped and cocked his head to the side as the lizard's fist swung into the now vacant space; the guy was surprisingly fast. Shadow glanced at Rouge as if for approval, and she just shrugged smugly._

"_I don't think I was talking to-" he didn't get to finish his statement, considering Shadow's own fist had embedded itself in the scaly upstart's face._

"_You were going to say 'you,' right?" the dark instigator replied, hopping out of his seat as his target hit the ground. The music stopped. Clubbers turned toward the scene, some gathering, smarter ones heading in the opposite direction. Surprisingly, the lizard got right back to his feet and closed in with his cronies. _

"_Oh, here we go."_

"Oh yeah," he thought aloud, a smirk on his face. He took a swig of his drink, savoring the spicy mix until he swallowed it down. It didn't taste like blood at all, but it would suffice. "Needs salt. Maybe a little iron."

He turned to Rouge without changing his expression. She gave another half-hearted smile back before spinning around on the stool and hopping up. She walked off toward the dance floor, spinning a hand in the air. The music slowed to a stop, and the DJ rolled into a different selection.

"Wow; she's pretty when she's hiding stuff," the cat whistled, watching her leave.

"You know, I'm fairly sure everyone would appreciate it if you stopped with the vampire lore," his dark company whispered before sighing and taking another swig of his drink. Blair raised a brow, glanced in Rouge's direction, then looked back at Shadow.

"She doesn't know you're a vampire? ...Why haven't you told her you're a vampire?"

"Why are you making it sound like that's an option?!"

The cat again looked the way the bat had gone, before again turning to the hedgehog.

"Why wouldn't it be an option? It's not like she's going to drive a stake through your heart!"

"She may!"

"I doubt it."

A few seconds of silence fell over the two vampires, and Shadow picked up his drink again. His pupils rolled toward the cat, who was bouncing to the new music that played throughout the establishment.

Rouge had walked onto the floor, ordering the most fast-tempo'd piece the DJ had. It was absent lyrics and full of nothing but synthetic sound, dropping all formality in favor of dragging the most instinctual movements from the body in the form of dance. It was the kind of music that was as cathartic as it was energizing, and the white bat was needing quite a bit of catharsis. The beat picked up. The DJ raised the bass. Rouge found herself off-center in the mob, swinging and twisting to the music and forgetting about everything.

"She definitely knows something," Shadow thought aloud. He sighed after realizing Blair, too busy dancing in his own world, didn't hear him. "I hate vampires."

He stared down at his half-full highball. The bass jolted his whole body, rocking it as if it were his own, missing pulse. He leaned his head in a hand, trying to collect his thoughts despite the blasting music. Two days ago, he had been bitten by a vampire. That night, he had been at this very location, beating down a few punks who didn't know who they were messing with. He couldn't remember further, but Rouge had already explained that they had gone separate ways after the cops left.

"_Watch your back!" The lizard screamed as he was pushed into the backseat of a squad car. Shadow smirked as he watched him go. "You _better_ watch your back!"_

_Shadow just waved sarcastically before turning to Rouge. She was pissed. He raised his hands apologetically, but she just rolled her eyes. The hedgehog shook his head and turned back to the cop car in time to see its scaled passenger sneer at him._

_There was something wrong with his face._

"Blair... Blair... Blair..." He sighed, grabbing the cat's shoulder and shaking him out of his dance. "BLAIR!"

"What?!"

"Do vampires bruise?"

"_What_?"

"Do... we... bruise? Do vampires bruise?"

The young cat stared at him, brow raised and tail flicking in annoyance. Shadow frowned, waiting for an answer.

"Uh, no. We're _dead_. We don't have flowing blood, so we don't make bruises. We don't even bleed much for that matter; has to be a big gaping hole. Why are you worried about it?"

"I," he frowned. The image was clear in his mind. "I kneaded someone's face into the dance floor and they didn't even swell. Not a busted lip, not a shine."

"Oh," Blair hummed, looking up in thought. "Either you can't punch, or that sounds like a vampire."

Shadow hopped from his stool and headed for the door, ignoring Blair's calls of protest. He stepped out into the dark, taking a deep breath before remembering he couldn't.

"Okay. Rouge pressed charges," he spoke to himself, his airblades kicking on. He'd head for the police station and find the punk with the unbreakable face. He didn't know how much the guy would be able to help him, willingly or otherwise, but he'd find out soon enough. It didn't take long to reach his destination. He trotted up the stoop and into the building. Inside, he was greeted by an officer at the desk.

"Shadow the Hedgehog," The uniformed man spoke, feet propped up on the desk. "Giving up on the vigilante game? Come to join the force?"

"No, I'm looking for someone," The hedgehog replied, looking around as if his target would be standing there. "Lizard. Came in two days ago from Club Rouge."

The policeman stared at him quizzically, before taking his feet from their makeshift ottoman and leaning on the desk.

"He never made it here."

"What?"

"The three of them killed our guys, crashed the car, and disappeared altogether," he mumbled gruffly. "The trail's cold; we don't even have mugshots on 'em."

"How did they manage to kill the cops?"

"We don't know how they got loose, but we know how they murdered them. Exsanguination: those punks were vampires... all three of them."

Shadow stepped back into the cool night air, stepping down onto the sidewalk and heading back toward the club. He crossed his arms and looked down to the pavement, going over everything in his mind for the hundredth time. Everything pointed to the guy he had fought in the club. He wouldn't have figured it would be him; he was supposed to have been locked up, but the guy was loose only minutes after being caught.

"That bastard bit me," he muttered, dropping his arms and glaring down the street. "I just need to find him and kill him."

But, how to find one of three-hundred and seventy-two vampires? In fact, he was technically looking for one person in a whole city! The hedgehog shook his head as he turned a corner; no matter how close he got, life still seemed like a distant prospect.

A blue blur shot past, the accompanying breeze ruffling Shadow's quills. He flattened his ears as said blur screeched to a halt behind him, halfway through another intersection.

"Three... two-"

"One-zero!" Sonic exclaimed, slowing to a halt in front of his black rival. "Hey Shadow: race you to Tails' place!"

"Why would I want to go to-"

"Don't you want to find the guy that sucker-punched you?"

"No, I d-..." He paused to think. He did want to find _someone_. "I mean, you have a point there."

"ONETWOTHREEGO!"

The two shot off, their barely-subsonic dash dragging a sedan out of its parking spot along the street. They zig-zagged across each other's path, stealing the lead from each other innumerable times. The streets were emptier than they would have been months ago; more and more citizens were staying in after dark, too afraid to risk being caught by vampires. It made for the perfect, city-long running track.

The hedgehogian heroes launched off a sudden slope in the road, curled into balls, and rocketed down the steep street, only touching down when the pavement leveled out. Another couple bursts of speed wrenched a mailbox from its bolts and dragged another couple cars from their spaces.

"Just like old times, eh, Shadow?!"

"Somewhat!"

They made ninety-degree turns down another street, the force of such moves buckling the asphalt where they had pivoted. The few miles between themselves and the the station closed within a couple of minutes, and the two hopped onto the tracks, barely outrunning the train that was pulling up to the platform. Running and skating along individual rails, the hedgehogs remained neck-and-neck along the length of the track...

----

Tails scanned his computer screen, going over the lines of information that presented themselves in the document. It was only the second night, but even he was a bit impatient about getting to the vampires; he didn't want another person dying because of a few bloodsucking monsters.

_I hope Amy got home okay_, he thought to himself. She didn't get off until well after dark, and she had to walk home by herself. It didn't make for a very safe way to live...

He jumped as a sudden bang rocked the workshop, and he hopped onto his feet and ran toward the front door. There, lodged in it's skewered frame, were two spinning spheres of spikes, one blue and the other black. The revving masses of fur squirmed in the frame, causing the fox to sigh and shake his head.

"Back up!"

"You!"

"Look, I was in the lead most of the time!"

"Yeah, right!"

"God, I'm never racing you again!"

Tails trudged over to the door, which was hanging on one hinge, and slammed it shut, reveling in the disgruntled yells of his fellow heroes as they were knocked back the way they had come. He snickered, pulling the abused door back open and standing to the side as the black and blue furries quietly stumbled into the shop.

"What are you doing here, Shadow?" His ears perked as the dark hedgehog turned to him with an eerily friendly smirk.

"I need to find that vampire as much as you do, Tails."

----

The clock read two minutes to two. Rouge's gaze moved from the hands and face, to her busy barkeep, and then back to the dance floor, which she had abandoned hours ago. The place had emptied over the last hour; even her most daring clubbers had decided to cut their nightlife short and head home- in groups, of course. A month ago, Club Rouge would have been at full capacity right until closing, but the vampire panic had made such a night a distant pipedream. She still didn't understand what had possessed everyone to hang around a couple nights ago. The place was jumping; she had made the hasty decision to pay everyone overtime and keep the doors open an extra two hours. It would have gone great if a certain someone hadn't picked a fight!

"I can't believe he'd run off like that," She muttered, almost immediately rethinking her statement. "Oh wait, yes I can."

"He's on a mission," Blair snickered, tail flicking back and forth as he snatched at a floating piece of dust.

"I bet. I told him to forget about it," She sighed. "I thought he had when he came here."

"Nope," it was his turn to look around the establishment. His eyes settled on the front doors, where the hedgehog in question had just walked in. "Oh, there he is!"

"You're too hyper for your own good, kid," She watched as Shadow took the stool next to hers and looked around as if his drink would still be on the counter after three hours. "Where have you been?"

"Did you find that guy?"

"Tails' workshop and no," He answered at once. He'd described all three of the vampire punks to Tails. The young kit claimed he'd be able to search city record files for anyone that fit the descriptions. "I guess I missed the party, huh?"

"We're closing down, if that's any indication."

"Are we still going to eat?"

"Yes," Shadow sighed. "We're still going."

"Can't I come?"

Simultaneously, the hedgehog and cat answered with "no" and "sure." The black hero glared at his relatively younger companion, before turning to Rouge.

"You have to close up this place, and he's going to start whining," he nervously explained, hopping up from his seat to end the conversation. "We've got to go."

The bat shook her head, waving as the two vampires headed out of the door.

In only a few minutes, Shadow and Blair were hopping along the rooftops, searching any alley they crossed for any sign of life they could take away. The grim reality of their activity didn't hit the hedgehog as hard, however; he had, in truth, been waiting for the night. Breathing was a brief luxury he could not bare to be without, and blood was a plentiful necessity he couldn't live in want of.

Blair paused on the precipice of a nondescript edifice, holding a hand out to stop his friend. The youngish cat turned back the way he came, tail again flicking as he eyed a landing flock of crows. One dropped onto an air-conditioning unit, shifting into a lop-eared hare. His buck teeth shined in the moonlight, oddly sharper than they should have been.

"Have you eaten tonight?" The rabbit asked as a couple of birds garbled and snapped at each other. He didn't bother waiting for an answer, and continued on. "There's five of us and two of you. We can share one easily."

"Okay!" Blair replied, tail wagging. He turned to Shadow with a smile, but received two raised brows in return.

"Share?" the hedgehog repeated. "This many?"

"New guy!" The hare called. "There's one in the lot back there. Try not to rip his neck open like you did the first guy. We all need a drink tonight."

His last quip was drowned out buy the cackles of his four companions. They were laughing, and said realization again boiled the hedgehog's once congealed blood.

"Lenore's a big mouth," he heard Blair whisper. "Just bite. Then drink. Don't do both at the same time or you'll rip the vein wide open."

----

"I'm leaving in a few minutes," a man spoke into his cell, maneuvering the forklift over to its shed. "Yeah, we had a shipment come in late... Hey; overtime is overtime!"

The engine cut off only seconds later, and he hopped out of the small vehicle, trudged out of the shed and locked the door behind him. A crow cackled from atop the small lean-to, causing him to look up.

"... Yeah, whatever. I'll talk to you later," He sighed, hanging up the phone and shoving it in his pocket. He turned from the bird, only to face another as it swooped past him and came to land on the handle of a motorcycle: his motorcycle.

"Oh, that's funny. You're a riot," the man muttered to the bird. "I freakin' hate crows."

A second landed on the seat. A third perched on the windshield. They all turned their swarthy eyes toward him and cawed. The worker just rolled his eyes, walking over to the bike and waving the three avians off with a hand. They didn't budge. The raven behind him garbled again, but the man's attention had already shifted, Two more of the ominous carrion eaters had landed on the chain-link fence that bordered one side of the lot.

"_What_? I'm not dead!" The worker spat, glaring at a particularly large and gray bird.

"Yet!"

He spun around to face the speaker, but only found a small crow standing alone on the ground. It took off, its spot on the ground quickly filling as a black form skid into place and curled into a revving ball.

The man's breath was knocked out of him as the black ball slammed into his chest. His body hit the ground, his head smacking the concrete with a resounding crack. Shadow stepped away from his dying victim with a huff, exhaling a day's worth of stale air from his lungs. A trickle of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, and he eyed the six crows which had already flocked over to the body. Two at a time, they shoved their beaks into the clean wounds his fangs had made, siphoning out fresh blood before being bludgeoned away by their thirsty companions.

"Not bad," the hare spoke, moving to stand next to the hedgehog, having taken his share of the meal. "I think one for seven is a good deal, eh?"

Shadow found himself nodding, but he quickly stopped, shaking his head as if to toss out his cruel thoughts. He turned away from the feasting birds, instead deciding to focus on the pulsing, red floodlights of a distant skyscraper. His heart was again beating, but it felt heavy in his chest; he had to find that guy, get his life back, and put an end to his nightly killing spree!

"Say," Shadow began, turning back to the old hare. "You seem to have been around a while; I'm looking for another vamp-"

"I can't help you," the gray beast cut in. He pulled his hands from the pockets of his overcoat and folded his arms defiantly. "Finding whoever bit you is your business. We don't help vampires kill vampires."


	7. Control

Chapter 6: Control

Sunrise was at 6:51 AM.

"You know, this isn't exactly a _hotel_ for vampires," Lenore muttered, pulling apart the thick, black, velvet curtains. The room was illuminated by afternoon sunlight, which caused a certain black hedgehog to squint.

"Make me leave," He yawned, lying on his side on the floor with his head propped up on a hand. "I dare you."

"You're a _brat_," The bucket-hat spoke, knocking dust from the curtains. "Why don't you go home? You know where home is, don't you? Aren't you bored? Shouldn't you be looking for that guy?"

"That would be counter-productive. Even if I saw him now, I can't bite him in broad daylight. I've got people looking for him for me. Besides, I can't see anything out there, anyway."

He smirked as the girl sighed in exasperation. In truth, he didn't really want to be in the eyes of the public at all anymore. His annexed room at Club Rouge was always an option, but even he got bored eventually. The safe house at least had Lenore who, he had decided, would be fun enough to annoy all day. He'd slept the morning away and watched idly as the girl went about cleaning the building from top to bottom- or, at least, from floors three to five. The stairways and elevators down to the first and second floors had been sealed shut, just in case anyone managed to get in from the streets.

"I'm getting the feeling that you don't want me here."

"I slammed a broomstick into your skull half an hour ago, if that wasn't any indication."

"Is that what that was?" He rubbed his top quill, remembering the sudden tap he had felt while the girl was sweeping behind him. "Kid, I ram head-first into titanium-plated robots for a living."

"Get Out Of The Building!"

----

"Miss, hey, miss!" a patron called to the pink waitress as she poured tea at another table. Amy turned with her usually cheery smile as the man dropped his hand. "Could we turn the TV's? At least one."

The girl looked around at the many overhead televisions, which were set to some idle station.

"I'll see what I can do; what would you like to watch?"

"The police commissioner is about to hold that conference... about the vampire."

The café fell silent, eyes traveling from the man, to the Amy. A low murmur rose, though the clatter of tableware had ceased.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind hearing that, myself, miss."

"Me neither."

It was a cashier who clicked the TVs over to the local news station, its image displaying the grayed and grave-faced officer as he walked through camera flashes and the Press' calls to reach a podium on a small stage. The small café was again enveloped in silence.

"_I'd like to open with the frank statement: Station Square, we are caught in... a most serious security crisis. It is not petty gang activity, foreign extremists, or even hay-wire robots or enraged water gods. The media has not been far-fetched in its reports; as asinine as it may sound, citizens of Station Square, this city has become the hunting ground of 'vampires'," he raised a stuffed folder before dropping it onto the podium. "I have a report from Square Hospital, where six suspected bite victims were treated. It has been confirmed that many legends surrounding these monsters are true; that they are conscious, animated corpses, that they live off of the blood of other individuals, that 'vampirism' is spread through bites, and that these individuals are adversely affected and killed under direct sunlight. Classic weapons such as wooden stakes, holy water, and crucifixes have no affect."_

_A few wry, if disappointed, chuckles could be heard._

"_The number of deaths, let alone attacks, by vampires has yet to be determined; however, the Station Square Police Force is dedicating themselves to reducing that unknown number to a definite zero. As we speak, my officers are re-arming themselves and readying for a full assault on these night-time monsters, but we will require your help as well. It has been ascertained that once contracted, vampirism leads to a destruction of character and sentience. In the absence of blood, their sole source of nutrition, these individuals' mindsets can only be compared to those of wild and rabid animals. Unfortunately, vampirism is not reversible with today's technology, and vampires cannot be contained without sacrificing our own, living comrades to their sanguine diets._

"_It is the decision of your city officials that the entire vampire population within the city be destroyed. Citizens, we ask that any information on the location of these individuals be relayed to your local police department. I have no doubt that some persons in this city are hiding infected loved ones, and I must urge that, for the safety of the city, those people turn over these dangerous creatures to the proper authorities._

"_As we begin this operation, we do urge citizens to temporarily adjust their daily schedules to be heading home before sundown and to be indoors before dusk."_

"_How many vampires are there in Station Square?" one reporter asked._

"_Based on nightly attack rates, we estimate that there may be twenty to forty vampires in our midst."_

"_How do you and your forces intend on catching these vampires?"_

"_The exact processes will not be disclosed in order to keep our targets in the dark," He paused after his statement, looking up in thought before gazing back at his audience. "No pun intended."_

Amy sighed at the grim news, quickly taking note of the stark silence throughout the café. It took a quarter hour for the place to liven back up to its usual hustle, but even then a very tense air held about the place.

"The boss is _definitely_ going to cut our hours, now."

Amy rolled her eyes at her coworker's comment, soon returning her tray to the kitchen. Mary was the kind of girl to wonder around looking for trouble- but who was she to talk? She had followed Sonic into the face of danger, laughing or yelling at whatever gruesome visage 'danger' may have taken at the time. Of course, she could at least defend herself; Mary seemed to be lacking in braun as much as she was brain.

_I wonder if Sonic and Tails have found out anything about those vampires_, she thought as she returned from the back. She gazed around the café, only to find a familiar face sitting at a stool toward the front of the area. The dark figure stared idly through the glass, a cup of one caffeine drink or another steaming in front of his folded arms.

"I'm taking a ten-minute break, Mary," Amy chuckled, trotting over to her fellow hero. "Did you get evicted or something? I used to only see you twice a year! How long have you been here, anyway?"

Shadow glanced at the girl, though for once his eyes didn't close in annoyance.

"Long enough to listen to Mr. Policeman."

"That long? Jeez; I didn't even notice you!"

"That's not really a surprise," he chuckled, though cut the action short when her eyes glared daggers. "I... was just kidding."

"Sure," she sighed, taking a seat across from the table. "What do you think about the vampires?"

"What's there to think about?"

"Well, aren't you glad that _something's_ being done about them? None of us will have to worry about being bitten, soon!"

Her exclamation died down as Shadow stared. His face had barely contorted at all, but he suddenly carried an irked look about him. He sighed and looked back out of the window, ignoring his cooling drink.

"You all are so quick to judge, condemn, and destroy, just like you were fifty years ago. No one's learned anything," he paused in thought, then turned to the pink hedgehog before him. "Do you think they should all just kill themselves? If you were a vampire, would you kill yourself?"

After receiving no response, he sighed again, finally picking up the coffee.

"Don't answer that; it was a stupid question. You're right; I should be glad," he droned out, taking a sip from the lukewarm drink.

"Then why aren't you?"

Shadow's dead gaze turned to the girl and, for a split second, the hedgehog considered admitting to her everything that had happened in the past three nights- that he had been bitten by a vampire, become a vampire, killed two people- and that the commissioner's speech and declaration were nothing for a monster like himself to be happy about. He refrained, telling himself that it was not an arbitrary time to reveal said information. It was, after all, daytime, and his revelations would just raise questions as to how a vampire was hanging around in broad daylight.

"Come on, Amy; you know I'm not really the philanthropic kind. I could care less about the vampires, as long as no one tried to bite _me_."

"Oh, that's just selfish!"

"You'd think people would stop walking outside at night."

"Shadow!"

"Oh, come on, it doesn't take much brains to know how to avoid a vampire!"

"Some people have jobs!"

"Anyone who gets caught brought it on themselves."

"My shift doesn't end 'till way after sunset! Rouge owns a _nightclub_! Does that make us idiots?"

Shadow paused and turned his head to look back out of the window.

"I guess so," he muttered, suddenly acknowledging the fact that all of his allies were in very real danger. In all honesty, he would probably enjoy it if at least one other person he had known were like him, but that was definitely being selfish, and he was used to being the outcast, anyway. "You shouldn't be out at night."

----

The sun reached its zenith at 12:59 PM. As the afternoon crawled on, the vampires took to doing their own bit of crowd control.

His lungs began to flame, starved of breath, struggling to expand. His ribs spread, mouth gaped, nostrils flared, but still he could pull no air into his burning lungs. His whole body writhed with panic and desperation- feet kicked, fist pounded, nails scraped. His heart raced, beating against it's airless cage, threatening to break free and producing all the pains of such an escape. An inferno had erupted in his lungs, a jackhammer in his chest, and he could do nothing- nothing- about it. His eyes and vision turned inward from the room and floorboards he hadn't even noticed; his head buzzed as every neuron fired off in death writhes of their own. Where was everyone? He couldn't even remember what he had been doing.

Not a flicker of his most recent actions came to mind: nothing. He couldn't even remember waking up to witness his own death, and surely his body was dead now. Somewhere he had heard of people staying conscious after their own decapitation; brain cells had enough energy to last a few seconds without oxygen, or so that was the theory. He took a quiet moment to confirm that he was in fact, dead; the scuffling and panic had stopped; he wasn't breathing; his heart had ceased all pumping...

It was taking a _long_ time for him to lose consciousness.

It was getting ridiculous.

What the Hell.

The man pushed himself up from his prone position on the floorboards. Somehow he had survived the health emergency he had suffered through. Heart attack, or some kind of choking, or both: he didn't know what had happened to him, but he was glad to be alive. The man sighed and froze, then he inhaled and sputtered. He put a hand to his chest and panicked.

"Oh my-" His words were cut short as a sudden shuffling caught his attention. His head snapped around and his eyes settled on a small girl in a black dress, her face concealed behind a dark bucket hat.

"Who are you? What's happened to me?" He asked in a hushed voice. His panic escalated as he received no response. The girl just pushed herself off of the wall and walked across the room. "You hear me, don't you? Am I dead? What's going..."

He paused, remembering a certain news cast about a certain man who everyone thought had been bitten by a vampire. He had gone into respiratory and cardiac arrest, and died.

"I was bitten, wasn't I?" He stammered anxiously, hoping to get a response from the girl as she crossed the dark room. "Look, kid-.. look, I won't tell anyone about this. I-I, I can get used to this- would you just listen to me? Where are you going?!"

She finally stopped at a thick, black curtain, one hand gripping the dark velvet as she turned to him.

"Am I vampire or not?!" He yelled, stumbling to his feet. He finally took notice of the drapery, and the window that was obviously behind it. "What... are you doing?"

"Killing you," Lenore stated matter-of-factly. "You shouldn't have been brought back here. This family is too big in the first place, so, you've got to go."

His mouth gaped. He shook his head and held out his hands, unable to scream the pleading words he desperately needed to voice.

"Ashes to ashes," The girl chuckled, dragging the curtains away.

"Dust to dust," The sunlight shot into the room, hitting the man dead on. Lenore barely flinched as her guest burst into flame, his charring form hitting the floor, hissing and writhing in place.

"We're glad it was you, and not one of us!"

She didn't dawdle, replacing the curtain and walking past the screaming bonfire with a bounce in her step. Someone else was waking up in the next room.

Blair was waiting for her at the window, staring at some teenage squirrel thrashing about in the center of the room. Lenore ignored her for a moment, turning to the cat, who had clamped both halves of the curtain together. His gazes became glares as he turned to the bucket-hatted vampire, and his ears and tail took on more aggressive positions.

"Come on, Lenny; she's a friend of mine!"

"Let go of the curtains."

"I didn't bite her, I swear I didn't, someone else did! We can keep one more-"

"I'm going to kill you."

"You _already_ killed me! You owe me! Lenore, she's my friend-!"

"_You said that already!_"

The cat flinched at the girl's icy hiss. His ears folder back, not for fear but for despair. He shook his head defiantly and muttered.

"Blair?"

Both of the vampires turned their eyes on the squirrel, a look of panic stretched on the rodent's face as she clutched a hand over her heart.

"Blair, where are we? I think I... I think a vampire got me!"

The cat turned to the other vampire, who finally shrugged. He smiled, hurrying over and kneeling by the newest creature of the night, chuckling and pulling her to her feet.

"You won't tell anyone, will you?"

"Of course not! We.. both got bit!" His tail curled and uncurled happily. "We just have to wait a while, and then we can get out of here!"

Lenore glared at the two as she crossed the room. There were too many vampires; it wouldn't have been so bad if people didn't mess up and get caught, but it couldn't be helped now. The building had filled with the smoke of a handful of monster pyres.

The two gabbed on, completely oblivious as she neared the window, grabbed the black fabric, and wrenched open the drapes.

"No more vampires, Blair!"


	8. Brief Encounters with Death

Chapter 7: Brief encounters with Death

The sun fell below the horizon at 6:46 PM. Dusk settled exactly thirty minutes later.

Shadow strolled past Club Rouge, glancing through one of its tinted windows at the fearless club-hoppers inside. He turned away, continuing down the street in an amble, wondering if Rouge knew that her club had played host to a trio of vampires. There could be more inside, partying away with the living, sizing up and dancing with their next meals...

Speaking of which, he admitted that he needed to find someone in a dark alley. He thought Blair would have popped up already; the annoying kid seemed intent on hanging around him, but at least, with him, it wasn't like a whole person was dying for just one bite.

"Hey, faker!"

The hog cringed at the nasally voice, his ears flicking about as a certain pair of footfalls increased in volume behind him. Shadow's body turned against his will, until he and his blue counterpart faced each other.

"Hedgehog," he mumbled, in acknowledgment of Sonic's presence. "Unless you found those guys we're looking for-"

"Nope!"

"-Then please go play in traffic."

"I did _that_ on the way here," the cobalt hero admitted, scratching his head and looking up in thought. Shadow sighed and turned back the way he had been going, only to again freeze in his tracks.

"..."

"I can't believe clubs are closing down over vampires!" The iguana grumbled, hands behind his head. "It's back to Club Rouge."

"We should start our own club," one of his cronies, a gecko, mused. "You know. Just for vampires?"

"Wow, that's a _stupid_ marketing campaign: tell the _whole city_ where the bloodsuckers hang!"

"I'd go there," the third traveler, a gila monster, added in. "Not."

The iguana rolled his eyes as the two began to bicker, nearing a crosswalk and glancing down the connected sidewalk. His gaze fell upon the surprised expression of the black hedgehog he'd almost gone to jail fighting.

"Eh? Isn't that... that guy, Roderick?" The gecko asked, tail flicking back and forth. The iguana didn't reply, his attention on the hedgehog, whose expression had switched from surprised to infuriated.

Shadow glared at the lizard, and both shot off, back the way the trio had come. Sonic followed a second later, before skidding to a halt, pausing, and backtracking, coming to stop in front of the other two lizards.

"You're vampires too, aren't you?" He snickered, a wide, mischievous grin appearing at the teens' nervous glances to each other. Without turning back to him, they sneered and hissed, teeth growing into formidable fangs. The two lunged, their actions easily dodged as the blue speed demon somersaulted over their heads. "Alright! You guys _are_ fast; let's dance!"

Roderick bolted into the first alley he came across, his dark pursuer close on his tail. The iguana spun around before he had even stopped, successfully skidding backwards to face the hedgehog.

"Hey, what's your-" The green iguana's inquisition was cut short as a black-and-red, spike-covered ball smashed into his chest. The two tumbled down the alley at high speeds, only coming to a halt when the two slammed into a chain-link fence.

"_What's my problem? Is that what you were going to say?_" Shadow hissed, large canines glinting. "You _bit_ me!"

"_I-I don't know what you're talking about!"_

The iguana's eyes had grown large. He jumped to his feet, or attempted to; Shadow's hand grasped his scaly neck and slammed him right back onto ground.

"_No! You're not going anywhere!"_ He let go of his neck, instead grabbing the iguana's shoulder and wrenching him forward to deliver a fatal and fateful bite. Roderick screamed, grabbing his would-be-murderer's quill. He twisted his senseless opponent's head to the side, successfully throwing the vengeful hedgehog past him. Shadow's face crashed into the chain-link fence, both fangs wrapping around the metal wire, and the lizard jumped to his feet, his form shrinking and shifting into that of a ragged raven.

Blinded by pure hatred, Shadow all but shrieked, the enraged cry causing window panes to shatter and rain into the alley. Caught on the metal fence and hearing the telltale beating of wings, he knew his target was escaping, and that thought further maddened him into thrashing about. He was free in a matter of seconds, slamming onto his back from the force of his last pull. The hedgehog jumped back onto his feet, feeling the crushing weight of shifting into his smaller avian form; however, quicker than he switched, he returned to his usual self, head and eyes snapping around in search of the lizard.

The skies were empty.

He couldn't scream, curse, or form words at all. His body trembled with a rage that refused to die down. The hedgehog stood in the dark alley, eyes blazing, ears burning, back shivering. A cold, slimey something filled his mouth, until he spat out the foul, bitter substance and glared at it as if it were the the cause of his failure. As his mouth began to fill again, the feeling accompanied by a painful throbbing under his snout, he realized that the dark liquid was his own, half congealed blood.

His fangs were lying on the ground, on the other side of the fence. Shadow stared at the pearly teeth, both crowed by a bit of flesh from his gums and lying in small, crimson pools.

The hedgehog spat out another mouthful of blood and backed out of the alley.

His aim was perfect; Sonic's homing attack hit dead on, throwing the gecko into a street light, which bent from the force of the collision. The gila monster had not yet dislodged himself from the car-door window he'd been launched into.

"That was boring," he chuckled, looking between the two monsters. His ears flicked, and he looked to the side to see Tails landing on the sidewalk. The fox glanced at and backed away from the rocking car, it's stuck half-occupant hissing madly. "You missed it!"

The fox stared into the vehicle, before his tails straightened in surprise.

"That's one of the guys Shadow described!"

"Yeah; the other one's in that pole," Sonic laughed. "Shadow chased down the last guy."

Police sirens could be heard in the distance. Naturally, the precinct was fashionably late. Tails glanced in the direction of the growing noise, before turning to his friend.

"Where _is_ Shadow?"

"Right there!"

Indeed, the hedgehog in question could be seen trudging back down the street. He spat out more blood and wiped his mouth with the back of glove. Sonic and Tails traded questioning looks as their friend drew closer.

"What? Did he punch you again?" Sonic asked, his usual cocky smirk on his face. "You've got to move faster, faker!"

"Shut up," Shadow replied, his voice heavy. He passed the two, not even sparing a glance their way. "I didn't catch him."

He finally stopped his paces, and all three heroes looked forward as a few cop cars finally turned onto the street, a few blocks down. The vehicles were laden with floodlights, which shined brightly even from their far-off positions.

In the cars' distant glares, Shadow's eyes began to burn and blur. His fur charred, his skin became painfully hot, and the hedgehog came to a quick conclusion as to the source of his discomfort. Without any further thought, he turned on a heel and shot down the road, away from the cars covered in UV light.

"Bye!" Sonic shouted, long after his rival had disappeared. "See you!"

Tails frowned, his nose twitching as the unique scent of charcoal filled his nostrils. He nearly jumped out of his skin as the gila monster screeched, shattering his vehicular cell's windows. In the light of the oncoming squad cars, Tails and Sonic could see smoke rising off of the shrieking, writhing figure and within moments, he and his gecko friend erupted into thrashing balls of flame. The illuminated cars braked quickly, bathing the burning figures in the bright, purging light. The officers never stepped out of their cars; as the gila monster's coals caught onto the sedan that entombed them, the squad cars continued down the street,

"That can't be healthy," came Sonic's blunt quip as the hedgehog shielded his eyes from the fading lights and growing fires.

Tails own eyes traveled to his companion, but he soon gazed back toward the glowing blazes on either side of the street.

"Sonic, do you think that's it's right to destroy the vampires?" He began, ears flattening slightly. " At least, like this? Just burning them to death?"

The speed demon stayed quiet, crossing his arms and staring forward. Tails couldn't tell whether his friend was thinking, or if he hadn't heard the question.

"I just mean," he continued. "There's got to be something wrong with this. When I said 'stop the vampires,' I didn't mean... _this_."

The hedgehog remained silent, but he did manage to turn his head and smirk at the young fox. The small smile completed an optimistic expression, but the hedgehog gave a thumbs up to emphasize his mood. The ambivalent response only caused the young fox to raise his brows and cock his head, but before he could question the speedy hero further, said hedgehog shot off, his tailwind dragging a few orange tongues of the flames with him. Tails only sighed, his frustrated expression emphasized by the flickering glow of the fires. He couldn't understand what his friend could possibly be thinking, and, per usual, that worried him to no end. If even Sonic didn't know what to make of the situation- if the cheery joker couldn't even make a carefree quip- then things were pretty serious.

The fox turned, heading in the direction Shadow had come from, lost in thought as to how exactly to solve Station Square's latest crisis. The vulpine inventor stared down at the sidewalk, his eyes eventually catching on a burgundy splotch of old blood on the pavement. He froze, taking a moment to confirm that the lumpy substance was in fact sanguine in nature: it definitely was, and the kit quickly recalled Shadow's injury. He continued his trek down the concrete, soon coming across another splash of the clotted liquid. This time, Tails lifted his gaze from the pavement and looked around; he found himself and the crimson evidence to be in front of an alley. It was dark and empty, illuminated only at its mouth by the lights of the main street.

_Shadow must have chased the vampire in there_, he thought to himself, leaning toward the gaping mouth of the back street, unable to get his feet to step forward. Eventually, he willed himself to enter. One heavy foot lifted and glided over the sidewalk, hovering over the broken asphalt of the lane before setting down.

He nearly jumped out of his skin as something cawed, its gravely voice echoing down the narrow gap. Tails looked around for the source of the cry, and found it to be a small raven sitting on a fire escape. The bird peered down at him, it's light blue eyes fixed intently on his. Again, it cawed, flapping its wings frantically before ascending to another level of the wrought-iron stairwell. Tails' eyes followed the bird toward the overcast sky, but they quickly fixated on a more interesting subject; perched on the parapet of one bordering building was a small flock of the black birds.

A chill ran down the fox's spine as he gazed at the five or six avians. His ears folded back and fur rose as they all stared back, some leaning forward as if ready to drop right on top of him. His attention snapped back to the first bird, which had cawed again, and slowly removed his foot from the alleyway.

It was a sudden clap of thunder that really made the fox yelp and take off down the street, his haste quickened by a cacophony of screaming birds behind him. He looked back and saw the frightening ravens take off from their perch, each taking turns ramming into and battering the one that had cried first. He turned his attention forward with another yelp at a second roll of thunder, making a bee-line for the train. He was blissfully unaware of his narrow escape from a gruesome end.


	9. Interlude

Chapter 8: Interlude

Shadow raced back to the safe house, biting down as much as possible on the two, gaping holes in his mouth. In his bestial fit of rage, he had manage to wrench out not just his fangs, but a couple of teeth on either side, as well. He may have even broken off a bit of bone in his face. It was definitely not a comfortable situation, as his snout felt like it had been smashed in with a hammer, and his mouth had not yet stopped bleeding. Regardless, it didn't take him long to reach the location, and he was instantly aware of Blair's location. He met the cat at a fourth-story windowsill, the feline hunched over and still, his hands clasped together tightly.

"What's gotten into you?" The hedgehog asked, more curious than truly concerned. When he received no response, he simply pulled the cat back by a shoulder, and became aware of a few facts. The first was that vampires did not produce tears and could not cry; the second was that, despite this fact, Blair had, at some time, been able to pull off the feat; third was that he was, in fact, holding something in the small space between his gripped hands. The pale kitten stared listlessly at nothing in particular, and his eyes were bloodshot, the effect sickeningly darkened by his half-clotted blood.

His hands were dusted, and a small amount of ash slipped from his palms. Shadow backed away from the mournful cat, wondering just who it was he could possibly have been crying over. It was then that the smell of smoke picked up in his nose, and it was very strong. Someone had burned in the safe house. Lenore did mention that some people killed themselves by dragging away curtains, and he figured that something similar had happened with someone the young cat knew.

"I killed his girlfriend," Lenore stated plainly, leaning into the room from an open door.

"_She was not my girlfriend!_" the white cat hissed, spinning around to face the bucket hat. "She was just-"

"He's being a real baby about it."

"_I'm not being a baby!_ You're killing everybody!_"_

"Not everybody," She corrected, the same aggravating nonchalance on her voice. "Just new ones. It's not my fault you can't take care of your friends."

She turned to Shadow with a flair. Her face didn't need to be seen for anyone to take note of her pompous attitude.

"This isn't the first time, you know. He's even helped the last few times we had to control the family," she stated with a matter-of-fact tone. "He's just being silly because his girlfr- Shut up, Blair- because his _girlfriend _had to die, too. If it was anyone else, he wouldn't have cared at all."

Her hat tilted back as she lifted her head and stared down her nose at the feline mourner. For the first time, Shadow caught a glimpse of just what was under the head piece; two glowing embers of a gaze peered out from under the canvas, causing the hog to flinch and look away before he could stop himself.

"Now look at him, clutching a lump of ash and being dramatic-"

"You killed his friend!" Shadow snapped, a snarl under his voice. Blood slopped to the ground from under his snout, and he quickly shut his mouth. "You're a little hellion!... Who put _you_ in charge of controlling _anyone_?"

"My _fangs _put me in charge of controlling _everyone!_" The girl screeched, her large teeth flashing. "I'm the root of _everything_! I started this family: me,_ me, ME! _Not _you,_ you _fangless little leech! How dare you!_"

She finally stepped into the room. For having the form of a small child, she sure could make herself seem threatening. Shadow took that note and his previous observation into consideration, but held his ground as the girl approached.

"Who _put_ you in charge of _questioning_ me? I know when there's too many of us! I may have to _kill _someone or two, but I'll do it with a _smile_ on my face, because _I'm the boss _and I know what to do! This family has gotten too large, and whether or not it's the city or me that does it, some of us have got to go, and it starts with every last parasite that someone drags into this building, from now on, until _I_ decide otherwise!"

A bit of silence fell onto the three vampires. Blair finally released the clump of ashes from his hand, looking over his shoulder and into the the room with a burning glare that almost rivaled Lenore's.

"I guess I should _thank_ you and your warm little friends for getting rid of those two _idiots_ for me. That's two down: _could _have been three if you hadn't messed up... again."

"How did you see-"

"_My_ eyes see a lot," She spat, cutting off his obvious question. She bowed her head, her hands gripping the brim of her hat, and removed the headpiece. Her face finally revealed for him to see, a chill ran down Shadow's spine and his fur stood on end. Her colorless, feline features were perfectly innocent, like a porcelain doll's, but her sickening glare erased any ounce of comfort afforded by the rest of her facade. Both eyes beamed with the twin infernos that seemed to be caught within her pupils, and a sickening glow ebbed from the fiery saucers. It's as if the girl had Hell entrapped in her innocent gaze, and Shadow found himself caught as well, unable to break contact.

"I'm were the family is. I see _everything_ the family sees. I know when someone's born, and I know when they die once more. It's great... it pays to be the boss," a smile crept onto her face as she spoke, but the expression became blank for a moment. Her smile-gone-sneer returned as the first thunderclap of a storm boomed overhead, and she replaced her black bucket hat, concealing a disgusted look on her face and releasing Shadow from her inhibiting stare.

"Someone is not playing by the rules," she growled, walking past her recovering, black liege and pushing past Blair. She didn't hesitate in jumping down from the window.

It was only in the brief moment when the two became side-by-side that Shadow noticed their similarity; if it hadn't been for a few years growth on his part, Blair and Lenore could have passed as twins.

Another long silence fell over the two as the rain began to poor. Blair held his hands out, allowing the weather to wash away the rest of the dust that had settled on his paws. Shadow didn't know which was more awkward: him being shown up by a child, or the teenage cat's unsettling silence. The hedgehog shook his head as if to deny both scenarios, and he walked over to the other vampire.

"Let's go get something to eat," He began, trying to move as far away from the day's events as he possibly could. When he received no response, the dark hero continued on. "I can't bite anyone."

"Your fangs will grow back," Blair finally mumbled, shifting and shrinking into a piebald crow. Shadow joined him on the windowsill, both undead birds' feathers ruffling in the gusty storm.

"_I'm sorry about your friend_," the red-eyed bird cackled. Quiet followed the frank statement, until his company stretched his wings backward.

"_It's the only reason we ever bring anyone back,_" The smaller bird garbled. "_When they're important to us, in one way or another._"

Shadow cast an odd glance at him, before taking off into the rain.

* * *

**Author's Commentary**

If the name of the chapter doesn't tell, this is one of the few chapters that breaks the day-night cycle for one reason or another. Some information was released this chapter that reflects on some things from previous ones- in fact, there are enough context clues in these past eight passages for you to solve a very invisible mystery that's only been hinted at so far. ^^;; You may even get ahead of me and catch an important and shocking fact.

The hints are _very_ small, but they're there! ^.~

I'd like to add that this is a sort-of end to Part I of _Sunset_. In truth, the story was going to be broken into three parts, _Sunset_, _Twilight_, and _Dusk_, but after checking my notes (oh yes, I have notes), I realized that the middle installment was wa-ha-ay too short to be made into a chapter-story of its own... So, yay! I have one story to my name, and you don't have to set new Story Alerts! Ba-ZING!

While on subject, I'd like to thank you all for your support, be it through reviews, favorites, story alerts, author alerts, or simply keeping up with this tale! ^^ Thanks to my anonymous readers as well; I hope you join this sprawling community officially, someday!

That being said, I hope you enjoy the next part of _Sunset_! ^.~ See you next time, and stay out of alleys!


	10. Changes

Chapter 9: Changes

Sunrise was at 7:42 AM.

Station Square had, as it did every year, become adjusted to the bitter cold that fell upon the city every winter. The first snow had come and gone, turned to slush after a heavy rain. Nevertheless, the city's citizens strolled down the nippy streets with a pep in their step, hustling and busting about the metropolis without a care for the weather or temperature.

Shadow could barely believe it had been two months, almost, since he had died. Things had settled down- at least, for the living. The police department had hunted down and destroyed an impressive amount of the undead night-dwellers; in fact, everyone, including the precinct, believed that the urban crisis was almost over and done with. Shadow had barely seen hide or hair of Sonic or Tails. A few times the blue hedgehog had skid right into his black rival's path, and the two had even raced through the streets, despite the dark hero's protests at Tails workshop. Tails himself had only been spotted once by Shadow, and it had been a brief and awkward encounter. The two met stares some few yards apart, Shadow walking down a busy sidewalk and Tails stepping onto a corner, having crossed one street or another. Neither made a move to greet the other, and it was the fox who turned away first and walked down another street. Shadow had pondered the odd interaction for a few minutes, before pushing the event to the back of his mind.

He happened to be walking down that very street, having left Dawn Cafe. He'd only stopped by to grab something hot to warm himself with, for his dead body seemed to want to stiffen and freeze in the cold winter air. He stayed long enough to chat with Amy, who he learned could actually hold a reasonable, ditz-free conversation, and then departed, drink in tow, deciding to avoid the vampire safe house for as long as boredom would allow. He hadn't wanted to go back and bother Lenore very often, anyway; Ever since the night he learned of her cruel, managerial tactics, Shadow had decided the monstrous girl was no one he wanted to be familiar with.

After tossing an empty coffee cup into a trash can, Shadow shoved his hands in his pockets, wholly grateful for the coat Amy had given him a week ago. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the smartest decision he had made in arriving at the cafe, half-buried in the first snow; it had only sent the pink waitress on a shopping spree that evening. As it were, it was Shadow's first winter on Earth, and his corpse had proven deficient at producing a thicker coat of its own. He didn't even shiver. Apparently, homeostasis was a luxury of the living.

Shadow sighed to himself, pausing at a walk signal and feeling no inclination to beat traffic across the street. He had, for a long time, felt numb to many things he would have once loved to do. In truth, he found himself unable to feel anything at all. Sonic didn't annoy him; his nightly, post-murder breaths did not comfort him; Lenore's peeved glares didn't please him, and even the fact that he had not seen a scale of Roderick no longer drove him to rage. There was nothing behind his races with Sonic, hunts with Blair, or chats with Amy, and it wasn't until he had woken up from wondering and wandering aimlessly down an empty road that the hedgehog realized that he was truly dead inside.

The crowd that had built up at the corner finally moved across the crosswalk, numerous pedestrians either ignoring the catatonic hedgehog or casting him an odd glance. It wasn't until the bright, white walking man had turned to a glowing, red hand did the hedgehog realize that he had missed his chance. With another sigh, Shadow turned the corner and headed down another side of the block.

The one person he would have liked to see- for completely platonic reasons, he mentally reminded society- was Rouge, and the pale bat seemed to have warped clean out of existence. She hadn't been at her own club in weeks, much to the chagrin of her loyal floor man, though he had, upon inquisition, stated that it wasn't the first time his batty employer had disappeared without notice, and even Shadow figured she had learned of some brilliant gem to chase elsewhere in the world. He had invited himself into her penthouse and found it empty. He'd even knocked on her bedroom door, finally leaving when he received no response.

It was again snowing by the time Shadow snapped out of his wandering thoughts, and he shook his head to clear his mind and shake off the pile of snow that had accumulated on his quills. He found himself sitting on a bench, across the street from Dawn Cafe, wondering how he had absentmindedly walked in a circle- over the course of hours, as the absent sun denoted- around the city and ended up right back where he had started.

His head nodded backwards, and he gazed at the blueish, purplish sky, only blinking his frosted eyes when a snowflake threatened to settle upon them.

_Twilight_, he thought to himself. It was the only arbitrary thing he could think or care to do. The crunching of snow signaled someone's arrival, and he turned his gaze to the pink hedgehog, who was perfectly bundled in an assortment of fashionable winter gear.

"Aren't you cold?" She asked with a sing-song voice, waving a cup of hot chocolate teasingly under his nose. "This stuff sells more than coffee this season."

"I'm always cold," he muttered, snatching the paper cup away.

"Hearted, maybe!" She again teased, crossing her arms and sticking out a tongue. Shadow smirked, unsure if the expression was genuine or wry.

"And, blooded. Don't forget 'blooded'," he added, taking a sip of the warm drink and feeling his frozen insides begin to thaw.

"Always turning a cold shoulder, too!"

Shadow finished off the hot chocolate in record time, tossing the empty cup into a nearby trash can. He looked at the girl who had brought him the drink, again falling into his then-usual habit of deep thinking. Amy rocked on her toes and heel, gleaming at her dark friend as he finally snapped out of it and got to his feet.

"You know, it's still not safe to be outside so late," He said offhandedly, brushing snow away. Amy shruggeYou'red and continued to bounce.

"There aren't anymore vampires!"

"That's what _you_ think." His reply faded as he realized his hare-brained error, and he glanced at the girl, who was already giving him "that look." He clapped more snow off of his hands busily. "I mean, they've killed a lot more than they thought there were. No one knows how many there are."

Actually, there were exactly two-hundred-and-eleven vampires left, Shadow thought to himself. Lenore, Sonic, and the law had made sure of that number. The girl had stayed true to her threats and had killed forty-one vampires in the family, excluding those that others brought to the safe house. Blair had told him of his sister's door-to-door massacre, which, for once, he had not helped in. Lenore had gone and found bite-victims that others were hiding. She threw those into the sun, or brutally dismembered them if they were especially important to whoever had coveted them.

Blair explained that there was a limit to the damage a vampire could take before they would not regenerate. Lost fangs returned in a matter of hours. Beheading, though, was something no body or corpse could recover from. Lenore did that last, once the limbs were taken care of, to prove a point to whoever it was that had hidden their bitten loved one; those were the vampires that were forced to watch.

Shadow wondered if she had, at some point in her life, been a sweet little girl. The rabbit- Cream, he remembered her name was- came to mind, and he shook his head as the image of the little leveret, blood dripping from tinted fangs, appeared from the depths of his brain. At that moment, he again snapped out of his thoughts and realized that he and Amy were walking down one street or another. It was already dark.

"About time!" The young heroine piped up, holding her hands up exasperatedly. "You've been zoned out for forever! We're already at my house! For insisting on taking me home, I could have been snatched up by some _vampire_, and you wouldn't have even noticed! What could you possibly be thinking about?"

"Nothing."

"I told you, we weren't going to be attacked by any vampires," she huffed, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "You worry way too much, Shadow. You should really learn to-"

"R-E-L-A-X, yes I know," The hedgehog mumbled, turning away from the girl and heading back the way he assumed they had come along. The unsettling feeling of isolation fell onto his head, heavier than any amount of snow could ever hope to be. He was used to being _alone_- he enjoyed it, half the time- but being _isolated_ was a completely new game. Aloneness was something he could do something about: race Sonic, shadow Rouge, even stop by Dawn Cafe. Isolation was a state not easily escaped, and he suddenly realized just what had gone wrong in less than two months. At some point- maybe when Roderick flew out of the alley, or when Lenore showed him just what a monster he'd eventually become, or when Tails turned away with barely an acknowledging glance, or when Rouge disappeared without a word of notice- he'd suddenly become isolated from everything, in one way or another. He had been trying to not be alone, but in his efforts, the distance between himself and everything else- the stark reality of his isolation- had grown even more apparent.

He wasn't part of any world he wanted or had to exist in, and so the people and pleasures of those little microcosms were as fleeting as the cursed, cold snow.

.~-~.

* * *

**Shadow's Notes**:

The term "Family" in vampire lingo refers to all vamps that have a common "ancestor" of sorts. All the vampires in Station Square are part of the same family, and it just so happens that Lenore is the trunk of their tree.

Lenore, like anyone in her position, is powerful because of the number of vampires she has indirectly or directly turned. These gifted vamps, called counts (regardless of gender), hold the responsibility of maintaining their underlings. They alone are responsible for finding a proper "roost," or feeding ground, for their family, no matter how large. Some counts force their lieges to mass-migrate to completely new areas, burn new vampires, or kill luckless members already in the ranks, in order to keep the family under control. A count will also prevent new families from emerging, and usually destroy their own bite-victims after they spawn vampires, to prevent insurgences and still have vampires to continue the family. Lenore has followed this exact strategy; the count's only surviving, direct bite is her brother, Blair.

**Author's Notes**:

Right; ^^ Welcome to "Part II" of Sunset! Two months have passed since the last chapter, and things have indeed changed. Part II will be a little darker than the previous part, but it's all good! Some major -tish- goes down, so do stick around!

"Shadow's Notes" is a brief, end-of-chapter look into the vampiric world set in _Sunset_. It's simply a bit of information for those who want to know about my peculiar vamps! On a side note, though they are separate species, I use "crow" and "raven" interchangeably. While choosing a bird, I like aspects of both avians (the creepy, ragged and large look about ravens and the social behavior of crows, for instance). Just wanted to say that, in case anyone pulled out a plothole from it. ^^;;

Oh, right; while I'm making a rare and last-for-a-long-time A/N, I figure I'll mention that [i]Sunset[/i] may soon be drawn onto the digital screen, in comic format! For anyone intrigued enough, some "concept art" can be reached through my profile. Also, if I haven't replied to anyone's comments, please let me know! Things have gotten a bit busy and I may have absent-mindedly forgotten, but I love chatting with my readers!

Right, so, yeah! Thanks for reading, everyone, and sorry if this chapter was rather wordy! I promise, things heat up (or at least get interesting) in the next few (in story) days, so hang in there!

Peace, and stay out of alleys!


	11. Grim Realities

Chapter 10: Grim Realities

Sunset was at 6:02 PM. Twilight would end approximately twenty-six minutes later.

Blair hopped from rooftop to rooftop in the waning light, watching the two hedgehogs as they trudged through the snow in complete silence. The pink one bounced and skipped along next to her dark companion, who seemed unconscious to the world in general. Regardless, the pair seemed perfectly content, walking along in each other's presence.

He hated it.

The youngish cat strutted along a guard rail, forty stories in the air, and only paused when his quill-covered entertainment stopped far below him, at the base of the very building he had chosen to perch atop. Shadow and Amy split up, and for a moment, Blair contemplated jumping down and landing on the bubbly girl, crushing her into the pavement and not even bothering to drink her blood. After all, why should the hedgehog get to have any kind of living company?

"Eh~" He groaned, shaking the thought out of his head. He wasn't going to turn into his sister- he refused the notion. He wasn't a bad person!

... He wasn't _too_ bad a person...

... Relatively speaking.

"Stupid Lenore," he mumbled, hoping his twin somehow heard him. The feline stepped off of the rail, free-falling down the face of the tall apartment building with an airless sigh. The drag seemed to whisk away most of his form, until the tiny body of a black crow was all that remained of him. His wings caught the winds of his own descent, and the vampiric avian leveled out, just above a curbside snowbank.

He loved doing that.

The bird quickly covered the short distance Shadow had created since departing from Amy, and he made a smooth landing atop the black hero's head.

"_Who's the girl?_" He chirred, flapping wildly as his perch tossed his head back in a luckless evasive maneuver. "_She's cute._"

"Also, not a vampire," warned Shadow, stooping slightly from the sudden weight on his head and continuing down the empty street. Most of the city's population had indeed resolved to stay indoors at night, and few citizens had yet chosen to step outside in lieu of the task force's apparent victory over the vampires. He wouldn't have let a crow stand on his head, otherwise.

"_Eh? Who else isn't a vampire?_"

"You have no kind of memory, do you? Does the name 'Rouge' ring a bell?" the hedgehog looked upwards toward Blair, who had fallen silent and cocked his little feathered head. "What?"

After another few moments of thought, Blair again crowed.

"_Oh; _that's_ why you didn't want her to know you were a vampire,_" he mused, spreading his wings as if to emphasize his own epiphany. Shadow simply shook his head and rolled his eyes, finally unseating his feathered friend. Blair didn't seem to mind as much; he simply landed on the pavement, returning to a more furry form.

"Let us get something to eat!" He proclaimed obliviously, actively forgetting his most recent observation. The cat goose-stepped down the empty sidewalk, turning on a dime and continuing his march into the first alley he came across. Shadow shook his head and followed; the teen was less focused and mature than children half his age.

The rooftops were more than a few hundred feet above their heads. As the two undead allies scaled a commercial building, the large, gray, weathered form of Scholomage perched on a windowsill between them. The hare-gone-raven simply cast idle glances at his two acquaintances, who had stopped to stare in his sudden appearance.

"Hungry?" Blair guessed, flicking his tail back and forth.

"_Dreadfully_," the faded bird cackled, alighting from the ledge. "I almost didn't wait for anyone, and that's not my style at all. Come, someone's doing graffiti."

---

It didn't take long for the trio to find the nocturnal street artist. He was halfway through his project, a spray can in hand, when the vampires fell upon him, and he was down before any of his paint had finished drying. They left him in the back lot and found a tall roof to enjoy the rest of the night. The chilled air didn't seem to bother any of the vampires, who were just happy to again see their usually-absent, foggy breaths in the crisp weather.

A plume of smoke rose into the air somewhere near the edge of the city. Blair and Shadow focused idly on the dark column, while Scholomage looked away and shook his head, shoving a hand into a pocket of his overcoat.

"Two-hundred and ten," he counted gravely. "No, two-hundred and nine."

Shadow had come to know Scholomage quite well over the course of two months. Whomever had bitten the old hare had been personally bitten and subsequently killed by the young leader, herself, and in the centuries of occupying Station Square, he had become fairly powerful having several lieges under him. It was apparent that he'd just "watched" two of his own bites that had just gone up in flames.

"Lenore said to go out early, but that's not working, either," Blair grumbled, his ears folding in annoyance. "I bet even she didn't count on this many dying."

"I bet she doesn't know what the Hell she's doing anymore," Shadow stated haughtily, his eyes traveling up the smoke pillar. "She's about as tactical as Robotnik."

"I don't trust or believe her if I can't see her," the hare stated, his voice nothing more than an audible sneer. "That girl is just a demon of demons."

Scholomage watched as Blair bobbed obliviously to whatever tune had caught in his mind. The gray furry shook his head, pulling the corners of his mouth back in a crooked smirk.

"I can't believe she used to be like her brother, and even he's got a monster in him, too." He muttered the last half of his statement quietly and resentfully as he rummaged though one coat pocket, pulling out a small white box and a lighter. In a moment's time, he pulled a drag through his newly lit cigarette. "He's a good kid most of the time, but sometimes he's just a disturbed little child. Those two have been dead for far too long."

It was Shadow's turn to glance at his feline friend, who seemed to have receded into his own world, now bobbing and watching a sixteen-wheeler traverse an otherwise empty road. The commissioner's statement suddenly rolled to the forefront of his mind: vampires exhibited an overall degradation of character. He didn't doubt the fact, having seen and heard of Lenore's true disposition, but Blair seemed perfectly normal. He didn't seem like the type to rend bodies apart...

"I don't get the trust part," the hedgehog half-chuckled, breaking from his thoughts. "She seems ridiculously blunt whenever I ask her anything. She's not afraid to admit anything- she can get away with everything, anyway-"

"There's a _lie_ behind every truth that girl speaks. She's nothing but a manipulative whore, at best," He blew out a smoke ring, thoroughly enjoying his vacation from the dead. "She keeps no promises or alliances. She's not your friend. She won't protect you. She'll make you kill your own mother, then off you as compensation. This hell-spawn killing spree she's pulling right now? Just wait; she's not doing it to control any population. We've peaked well over five hundred in our prime."

"_Five hundred?_"

"Oh, yes. She killed _most_ of them a few years ago."

"Why hasn't anyone killed her?"

"Everyone is afraid," he replied, his matter-of-fact tone making Shadow's fur rise. The hare knocked some ash from his cigarette before placing it back between his lips. "Lenore is a smart girl; she weeds the ranks so efficiently that most vamps are lucky to have even a few bites under them. Her death would cause hundreds of new, small families to form, and families are mortal enemies. We'd decimate each other until there was only one branch left. Everyone is afraid of that, and so they are afraid of her death. We hate her, and have to protect her to protect ourselves."

A moment of silence fell between them. Eventually, Shadow turned his head and smiled at nothing in particular.

"She's good."

"Dreadfully."

The two chuckled, fully realizing just what kind of unfair world they were living in. As much as he was growing to hate his "leader," Shadow couldn't help but hold a slight bit of admiration for the old girl. She had spun an elegant web: one that caught her prey and wrapped them in its tarnished threads, all on its own. She could turn her back on two hundred enemies and not sweat with anxiety or fear of death. Kings of old must have wished for such power. Shadow couldn't help but wonder, now, why the girl had let him turn and join the ranks. At one time, pride had whispered the faint idea that she needed his power and skill; now, humbleness admitted that she must have found very little to be impressed over in his identity. But, if she was so powerful, and so cunning, and so manipulative, why- _why_, did she need him? What plan had she concocted that afternoon, when he was writhing on the floor, dying and reviving all at once? What was on her mind when she bothered telling him of the one way for him to escape hell on Earth-...

"Scholomage," the dark hero muttered, the listless smile on his face suddenly dropping. The rabbit flicked the cigarette butt behind him, then glanced at his caller while reaching in his pocket for another smoke. "Those eyes of hers- Lenore's, I mean: they see everything, right? Wouldn't she know who bit me?"

The repetitive clicking of the hare's lighter marked the seconds that spanned between Shadow's question and Scholomage's reply. Eventually, a flame fluttered into life in the old vampire's palm, and smoke puffed from the corners of his pursed lips.

"You, my friend, are her current source of entertainment," he muttered. His hand shot out, clutching the sleeve of his audience's thick coat, and slammed the escaping hedgehog back into his seat on the parapet. Shadow didn't have time to finish calculating the quickest route to the safe house. "Don't bother; she won't tell you."

"I already know who it is! I'm just going to rip-"

"Then it's useless to go. Save yourself the trouble, because you'll only humor her more. Play her little game, Shadow."

"Stop being so complacent!"

"You don't understand just how useless you are to her. If you fuss too much, she'll simply destroy you. Believe this old hare when I say that it's not worth it. Even now, she's either laughing at you, or deciding whether or not to kill me for admitting what I have."

Shadow jumped back onto his feet, wrenching his coat from the hare and almost instantly feeling a tug at his collar and cold cement at his tail. For a geezer, Scholomage was pretty strong.

"Death's not fair, Shadow," he warned. "Lenore's not fair. You shouldn't bother with her tonight; she's in an especially excited mood. If you confront her now, she will not be so welcoming; your petty grievances will only compound matters."

The hedgehog snarled, blood boiling. He was _beyond_ tired of Lenore's games! He didn't want to be her spiny dalliance, even more so than he didn't want to be a vampire! He'd easily trade his own murderer's life for the young girl's, even if it meant a hundred-way war with every blood-gulping monster in the city!

He had suddenly found a reason to live for- a reason to focus! Two months of idle ambling were coming to an end; he'd find Roderick and kill him, and when that was over and done with, he'd saw _cute little Lenore's_ head off! Yes, kill Roderick, kill Lenore, start a war, and kill whoever was left; he'd destroy two-hundred-and-eleven birds with one blood-soaked stone, and he'd do it with a smile on _his_ face!

"God, wait until I find that _damn_ third lizard!"

* * *

**Shadow's Notes**:

The powers of counts include the "count's eye," which allows the leader to stalk or immobilize his or her underlings. Through this eye, counts are made aware of the birth of new lieges and the deaths of others. The accompanying glow in his or her eyes symbolizes their status.

Counts can also change their animal form and, subsequently, those of their lieges by biting a different animal. This also allows them to mildly control members of their chosen species that live within the roost.


	12. Rouge, Revisited

Chapter 11: Rouge, Revisited

Sunrise was at 7:20 AM.

The night had passed with little more than a fleeting flurry or two. The dawn was as cold as ever, but that didn't stop certain monsters from going about their daylight business. Several squad cars, laden with heavy lighting equipment, were parked outside of the precinct, all at rest until the waning ours of the day. Several crows had turned the automobiles into their morning perches, though a peculiar many more were beginning to congregate on the high beams and trusses as well.

They were dismissed by a blank shot from an aggravated officer.

Shadow watched the odd happening, and also observed the flock of crows land right back on top of the vehicles.

They weren't vampires; their random garbles made no sense to him. As he accepted his conclusion, he continued on his way toward Dawn Cafe, craving something hot to thaw his once-again-frozen corpse. For once, he had a pep in his step that had, for two months, disappeared. Occasionally, the dark hedgehog would lapse into a long episode of musing, but he was not walking in a trance as he had for the past four fortnights. No, he had something to work for again. He had to set things straight. He had to kill a few people. He was planning...

The day afforded his targets somewhere around twelve hours of safety, but as soon as darkness fell, he could not waste a minute on idleness. No, he'd find Roderick first. A mental list of soon-to-be victims popped into his mind. There were only two distinct names, belonged to an iguana and a kitten. The third bullet point was simply "everyone else."

He hoped Scholomage and Blair didn't hate him for it; it was simply the way things had to be. He wasn't supposed to be a vampire, and the other vampires simply weren't supposed to be alive. He had things to do once alive, and they- well, they had gotten _used_ to whatever monotonous life death afforded them.

He left his thoughts alone with a shrug, looking around to see how far along he had gotten in his travels. Eventually, he turned onto the right street, which seemed overly dreary under a gray layer or two of slush and ice. Even with his blurry vision, he could still pick out the brown awning of Amy's workplace, which was several blocks down. The scene was familiar, though the last time he had taken it in, he was several stories up, staring out of a window of Rouge's apartment. Shadow turned his gaze upward, looking at the exact window he had crawled though. Was Rouge back, yet? He hadn't checked since her floor man had guessed at the bat girl's most likely location.

He had time to kill, anyway. Dipping into the nearest byway and emerging from it in a smaller, feathered form, the vampire soared skyward, landing on the right flower box and pushing the barely-open window pane up with his beak.

He was nearly knocked from his perch by the horrific stench. The thick, smelly air rolled out of the apartment like a red carpet, and Shadow quickly found that his body no longer had a gag reflex. He didn't know whether to be grateful or disappointed. Swallowing dryly, the little bird hopped into the penthouse, shifting back into his quilled body. The entire house smelled horribly of decay. He couldn't escape it, despite the fact that he wasn't breathing at all. It seemed a horrible trade-off, for the odor wafted into his nose and lingered there, unaffected by his absent breath.

"R-Rouge?" He stammered, pinching his snout between his fingers. He slipped off his jacket, and his now-clammy fur stood on end as he continued further into the abandoned home. It seemed as if death itself had settled in for a long stay, and that observation frightened Shadow far more than he would have liked it to.

The living room was empty, as was the kitchen. As he proceeded down the hall, a new scent hit his nostrils, far more pungent to him than the rotting stench that filled the air. It was one he had become used to: old blood. There was far too much of it, by how heavily the odor hung around. Shadow's heart remained stubbornly frozen, but his body's stillness did nothing to calm his nerve. The bathroom door was ajar, but the place was spotless. The hallway closet was just as pristine. All that was left was Rouge's room.

A wall of thick, putrid air stood before the door. A black streak of blood had trickled out of the room and dried, and the small warning was enough of a foreshadowing for what was behind the portal. Shadow hesitated, then took a step backward. What had happened in this house? Was it Rouge rotting away in the room, or someone else? Had she fled the scene of a gruesome murder? Was she the one left behind? The hedgehog sneered; what would anyone want with Rouge?

His thoughts jumped to a certain young cat, who he knew to be far from caring of people's loved ones. But, even _she_ didn't go find people for no reason, despite her reasoning being extreme.

Shadow swallowed nothing at all and clenched his fists; he'd _have_ to go in. If anything, he needed confirmation of just what it was decomposing behind the richly-accented door.

He reached for the doorknob, turned it, and pushed, but something was lodged against it. Shadow eventually knocked the little barrier open, and he was again slapped in the face by a hot draft of decay and rot. Whatever was blocking the door finally gave way, and the hedgehog stumbled into the room, tripping over the object and smacking onto the carpet with a quiet thud.

The first thing he laid eyes upon in the pitch-black interior was a disembodied face, staring back at him with empty sockets. Voice caught in his throat, he choked on his own yell, and could only manage to jump back and fall onto his tail. His back hit whatever had been blocking to door, and, slowly, he turned to whatever it was, eventually peering down at the rotting doorstop that was a headless cadaver. His gloves were quickly changing color, smudged by the crumbling blood that covered the floor.

"Holy shit," he muttered, staring at the body. He eyes flicked to the eyeless head, and back to the slothing stump that used to be a living body.

It was clear as day; the room had becoming a festering tomb for at least seven more head-and-body pairs. Fourteen fangs glinted in the mouths, pearly white against a gory background. And, the flies; the insipid hum of a thousand pairs of wings had gone unnoticed, but, stuck in this makeshift catacomb, senses primed by fear and disgust, Shadow found time to pay attention to the sinister murmur and eternally shifting ceiling. The cloud swarmed around him, landed on the corpses, laid their eggs and dribbled their spit and-

... He shut the door behind him, fell against it and slipped down, mouth agape as he tried to drag in air that would never fill his lungs, tried to calm a heart that was not beating in the first place. The buzzing was just as loud, even with the door closed firmly between him and the flies. Many had escaped the tomb and now flitted aimlessly throughout the apartment, before escaping in a shadow through the open living-room window.

A million thoughts raced through his no-longer-lit brain. He caught only snippets of the most important ones, and even then, the current of frantic musings washed even those from the forefront of his mind. He did not know what to do, or what not to do, nor had he even finished analyzing everything in the room: the bloody floor, the cloud of flies, the curtained windows, the dead bodies, the severed heads, the fourteen fangs, Rouge's bloody boot...

He stopped his airless breathing, eyes flashing as the image of an eighth body surfaced in his rushing rapids of thought. It was not so indiscreet, hidden on the opposite side of the bed; only her shoe could be seen, jutting out from behind a foot of the furniture, the normally white footwear adorned with a thick, black ribbon of what used to be blood. Rouge was dead. Rouge was _dead_... it was the only thought running through his mind, now. That, and an idle wonder as to why. Had she gone looking for trouble? Had trouble followed her home? Or was this Lenore's way of flicking him off?

He hoped it was anything but the latter, and not for the kitten's sake. In his mind, she was already destroyed. No, he didn't want it to be Lenore, because then it would ultimately be his fault. He had enough problems with killing people _directly_. Now he had to deal with persons of interest just dying all around him, because of him.

_Again._

A hand fell upon and rattled the doorknob as he stared listlessly down the hall, and Shadow both turned the handle and used it as leverage to rise back onto his feet. The door creaked open, and another swarm of flies escaped from the room. He wasn't going to leave her body there to rot with monsters, even if he had allowed exactly this to transpire for at least a month. He moved into the room deliberately and automatically, his mind elsewhere. He had come looking for his batty friend once before, when she'd first disappeared. He had come to her bedroom door and turned away and left. What if she had been alive, then? What if he could have saved her?

There were the boots, glistening white, save for the blood splattered across the toes and heels. They were still occupied by their owner's feet. Carrying one heavy foot over the other, Shadow continued on toward the other side of the bed, as solemn as a pallbearer called to the coffin. He rounded the corner of the bed, eyes trembling as they fought against his consciousness, wanting to turn away. He didn't let them.

He would have thought his old friend was sleeping. She was curled in something of a comfortable fetal position, her muzzle buried in the bloody carpeting, like a kitten would nuzzle against its mother. Her face wasn't contorted in pain or misery or negativity at all; rather, she looked as if she had simply collapsed and fallen asleep, like an exhausted runner after a grueling marathon. He just had to shake her shoulder or crash some cymbals and she'd get up and fix her hair and explain why she was taking a month-long nap in the middle of a blood-soaked room filled with vampire carcasses, and she'd probably have some sarcastic answer, to boot. And for being dead for a month, she seemed far less decomposed than the other bodies, which were but dry, shriveled husks of their former, lively selves. Nope, Rouge was quite healthy and pristine, and if it weren't for the absence of breath from her nose or barely-opened mouth, or the lack of rises and falls of her chest or stomach, Shadow would have been cursing and kicking and prodding her to get up and stop being such a deceiving _jerk_.

But, then she turned her head and looked at him, and the hedgehog's entire world turned upside down. Had it not been a most nonchalant glance- had it been even slightly more pained, or stressed, or feeble- Rouge's aquamarine gaze would not have chilled the dark hero to the bone. But, her actions were very lively, and her stare very piercing, and Shadow indeed found himself frozen over.

"Rouge?" he mumbled, for no discernible reason. She pushed herself off of the blood-crusted floor, her eyes never leaving his. A strangled, guttural sound boiled out of Shadow's throat, and for reasons unknown to him, he took a step backward. Confused, afraid, or disoriented: he didn't know what the emotion flooding his mind was, but it had sloshed around in his skull and shorted everything, then leaked into his spinal column and saturated the circuits there, too. His hand twitched as it, too, lost its connection with his brain. He found himself unable to move, unable to look away, an icy current running down his spine, a concrete frost icing over his feet and legs, a suffocating chill filling his lungs. Her eyes were nothing short of portals to a Hellish winter, and Shadow couldn't tell if it was his own panic or life's stark reality that made them glow a sickening, deathly white.

She lunged at him. It was such a _cheap shot_, he rationalized, still immobilized, right before she slammed into his chest with a sickening screech.

_He hit the concrete, the bloody cry still reverberating in his ears as his head clacked against the cold, hard ground. His head was swimming, his vision dark and blurred, save for the stars flying past. Blinded by daze, he instinctively threw his knee into his attacker's stomach, and missed, just as ten claws buried themselves in his shoulders, hefted him off of the ground, and threw him into a wall of the alley. Crack! There went his skull, his consciousness, his life... he felt himself fall away from the bricks, and smack onto the pavement. It was so dark, and so quiet, save for the footsteps, and the flapping, and the cawing, and the hissing. Blood pouring from his head, he fell into a coma before they even bit him..._

_Liquor... liquor..._

"SHIT!" He screamed as he hit the ground, throwing a fist into Rouge's demented face, then furiously swiping his knuckles once more, this time at the fangs in her mouth. He missed. The first punch had knocked her away. Shadow jumped to his feet and dived for the bed as his friend shot past him, her claws snatching a bit of black fur from his back. Rouge, a vampire: he hurriedly accepted the fact with what little time he had to do so.

Again, she tackled him, and they tumbled off of the bed. Shadow found himself between a rock and a hard place- or, at least, some maggot-filled carcass and Rouge. He grabbed her wrists, not noticing that her claws were headed for his throat, but becoming very aware as his jugular was torn apart, along with his windpipe. He luckily didn't need those, at the moment. The hedgehog wrenched his friend's nails from his neck, ignoring the half-congealed blood stretching between his fur and the weapons, and tossed the psychotic bat back over the bed with the help of his feet.

"Rouge, Rouge, Rouge!" He yelled, half of his voice escaping as a hiss through his neck. He clamped a hand over the gaping hole at his throat, and stood, peering cautiously over the bed. She hadn't gotten up yet. Was this what the commissioner had foretold: rabid monsters in too long an absence of blood?

Well, he didn't have that much, or any, to spare.

Carefully, the dark hedgehog crept from around the bed, tense in case of- yep! Rouge lunged at him, eyes glazed over in a most severe blood-lust, but her quarry was no longer in such a state of panic. Muttering a half-honest apology, Shadow performed a quick roundhouse kick, smacking his friend in the side of her head and sending her flying into the headboard of the bed. He didn't waste time; she was already up. He turned on a heel and rocketed out of the room, closing the door on his monstrous, hysteric pursuer. In mid-flight, she hit the door with a clatter and a shriek. The wooden barrier rattle and banged on its hinges as the crazed vampire attacked it, and Shadow held it tightly closed, thankful that such an unstable mind on the other side could not fathom the inner workings and purposes of a door's handle. Slowly, the thrashing on the other side subsided, and something heavy thumped onto the floor. After several seconds of silence, Shadow removed his hand from the door, holding his palm forward as if beckoning the barrier to stay closed.

What now? It was the sole thought running through his mind. How did he move forward, now? He had to help Rouge, but, _how_? He couldn't get her to leave him alone, let alone take her to a kill. He found himself ambling into the bathroom, and flicking on the switch.

The gravity of the situation hit him like the light from the many incandescent bulbs. It wasn't just about him anymore. Shadow stood in front of the mirror, craning his head back and watching the shredded veins and tubes and flesh in his throat heal over and close. For being dead, he certainly cleaned up much better than his living neighbors... But, his attention wasn't wholly on the incredible feat. He had to help Rouge, and not just by getting her some blood. His plans were suddenly on hold; he couldn't go on a vampire-killing spree, lest he accidentally kill Rouge's killer. But, what if he was already dead, killed off by Lenore or the cops or Sonic? What if Rouge couldn't figure out who it was? Were they supposed to amble around for eternity, looking for someone they might never find?

He couldn't think that far ahead. He, Shadow the Hedgehog, was lost on how to proceed. He snapped from his useless thoughts and looked back into the mirror. He was covered in his own blood, and little chunks of moldy, slimy flesh, and he had the distinct feeling of something crawling over him. With a sigh, he moved toward the shower.

First thing's first.

* * *

**Shadow's Notes**

Vampires require a daily helping of blood in order to function. In the absence of sanguine nutrients, vampires will enter a frenzied state, appearing rabid to untrained eyes, and will attack and bite anything that moves, including other vampires. The blood taken from undead bodies will not alleviate the condition. If bitten, vampires will enter the same state. If after fourty-eight hours, the afflicted vampire does not receive blood, he or she will enter a state of torpor, only reanimating in the presence of a blood source, and then falling back into the dormant state in its absence. After three months of no viable food, the vampire will wither and mummify, only reviving if soaked on blood.

**Author Commentary**

... Hey, hey, you guys still there? An update four months in the making, eh? Literally... Sorry about that GIGANTIC pause. College smacked me around and tore me a new one. However, Sunset is back to its at-least-weekly-updated schedule, so do stick around! Tell your friends! Tell your friends' friends!

Um... not much to say, actually. Just wanted to apologize. A few people PMed me about the story, and I didn't want to worry anyone any further! So, I'm back, and So are Shadow, Lenore, Blair, and... Rouge?! Sorry this chapter is soooo long for just having _two_ scenes. ;3 Hope I didn't tl;dr some of me faithful readers! ^^;; I promise, no more long chapters... until the climax ^^!!

Yes, there will be blood xD!

Anyway, hopefully, Shadow's Notes explained some things for y'all. And, as always, if you have any theories concerning _Sunset_, feel free to PM them to me! ^^ If you're right, you're right, but I'm not deviating from this story's path, so it's all good!

Peace out, and **stay outta alleys**! *already lost one luckless reader*


	13. Unlucky People

Chapter 12: Unlucky People

Darkness fell at 7:23 PM.

Club Rouge was ready for business- or, it would have been, had the floor man shown up and unlocked the doors for even the employees to get in and set up. As it were, he was no where to be found, at least, not on that side of town. Rouge's proud follower, a short, thin, and clean man with a no-nonsense expression utterly etched onto his face, stared pensively at an illuminated window of his boss' living room.

"This isn't the best update I could have received," he sighed, leveling his sharp gaze, shaking his head, and heading into the apartment building. "She's been _here_, the _whole time_."

"It surprised me, too," the dark hedgehog droned offhandedly. "She's always been full of surprises."

"And why couldn't she just call? I don't see why I have to _come over_... I should be opening the club, not making house calls!"

"Don't kill the messenger," he warned, walking ahead of the small, tidy man and hitting an elevator call button. "She... was preoccupied. And she wanted the meeting very private."

"Do you know what this is about?" They walked into the cab and hit the right number to Rouge's flat. Shadow clenched a fist, before relaxing a hand, folding his arms, and leaning against the back of the car.

"I can only imagine."

He knew _exactly_ what the meeting was about, and he doubted Alexander would appreciate the topic. But, it was his own fault. If he hadn't, by chance, walked into Shadow's path that afternoon, and if he hadn't, unwittingly, inquired about Rouge, Shadow wouldn't have been so inclined to drag him into a gruesome plot. Of course, he was probably the best option. Who else could he get up to the flat: some random stranger on the streets? That was against the rules. So, by no fault of his own, Shadow asked the small, thin, eternally-annoyed man up to Rouge's apartment. "It's all just business, I'm guessing."

The cab rose higher and higher, eventually hitting the cloud of decay pouring out from Rouge's apartment. The man sniffed, shuffled, and coughed, before waving a hand in front of his nose.

"God, what is that?" He yelped, backing against the wall of the car. Shadow gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, watching the floor numbers light and dim as they neared Rouge's level.

"Don't worry about it."

"This has to do with Rouge, doesn't it?"

Silence. Shadow again glanced at the man. He- Alexander- was in his mid-twenties, clean-shaven and adorned in rich clothing and a gold watch, his overall look screaming "I'm going somewhere." No doubt, he handled most of the business side of Club Rouge. A few times, Shadow had seen him with a girl- the same girl, actually- and he knew they were in some kind of relationship, but beyond the plane golden band on the ring finger of the wrong hand, he had no clue as to just what she meant to him or vice versa.

Lovers? A couple? Friends with benefits? Whatever their connection, it was about to end.

Shadow dropped out of his thoughts as his vision blurred and body rocked back and forth. He was being shaken by a shoulder, Alexander was yelling at him- panicking, really- the elevator was ascending, the smell of decay was slowly filling the car. Would he be breaking the rules if he let the guy go? Did Lenore know what he was about to do?

Why was he backing out now? They were three floors from Rouge's penthouse..

"Did you hear me?"

Two floors.

"Tell me what's going on!"

One floor.

Alexander's hand shot for the emergency stop. Somewhere between the building smell of decay and Shadow's unnerving silence, he must have decided that whatever issue Rouge needed to discuss needed to be discussed with the cops. Shadow's hand shot out, crushing the floorman's wrist, just as his other hand slammed his jaw shut, cutting off the coming scream. His foot shot out, sweeping Alex's own feet from under him, and he grabbed his throat, directing his head into the car's handle bars.

The elevator dinged, its doors sliding open as the floorman slumped to the ground. Shadow kicked him out, then slipped out himself before reaching back in and Christmas-treeing the car; no one would be getting to the upper-floors of the building for a while. Alexander was still alive, as evidenced by his writhing and groans. By the time Shadow had kicked open Rouge's door, he was mumbling something- either cursing or pleading, or both. His words were garbled by half-consciousness and the large amount of blood that had accumulated in his mouth from when it had been slammed closed. He seemed to regain his senses halfway across the threshold, making a vain attempt the grab the door frame. He missed, and the two disappeared into the apartment.

Alex was only vaguely aware of his surroundings. Most of it swirled around his vision; the world hadn't stopped spinning since his head had been slammed down in the elevator. There was an odd, unrelenting flash of white in the corner of his vision- a weird, ethereal twinkle- that he knew was a tell-tale sign that his brain was bleeding. He was going to die.

There were footsteps, and the sound of something scraping against the polished wood floors, and the sound of the front door slamming. Alexander rocked, nursing his already swelling wrist, whimpering, gagging as he finally recognized the stench that filled the apartment. It didn't matter to him anymore, nor did the thick cloud of flies. He just needed to get out- a feat made all the more unlikely once he realized that Shadow had blocked the door with one of Rouge's armchairs.

Shadow walked past the sniveling man as if in a trance, wholly denying what he was about to do, assuring himself that there was rhyme and reason to his actions. Rouge was his friend, and Alex was not; it'd have been against the rules to pass up Alex; he'd wanted to know where Rouge was, anyway; he'd be fine as a vampire; this is just the way it had to be; _you've killed plenty already_.

He shook his head; the whole "assurance" thing wasn't working. His daze ended at the bat's bedroom door, and he kicked it a few times. He had tried the same thing a couple of hours earlier and got the same reaction: Rouge growled and hissed and beat back. If he stopped, she collapsed. If he kept kicking, she got angrier and angrier until the door rattled on its hinges from her clawing and pummeling and probably biting. That is what she did now, and Shadow clenched his fist and took an airless breath to steel himself for his next move.

He power-kicked the door open. It swung out, smacking Rouge into a wall, before breaking out of the frame and clattering to the ground. There was a screech. Rouge was very angry. The corpses shuffled as she climbed over them. Even the flies were getting the Hell out of there, and Shadow turned tail as well.

_Not me not me not ME!_ He thought, rushing down the hall. Rouge was right behind him; he felt her claws tear a chunk off the back of his neck. He broke out of the hall and skid into the living room. Then, he panicked. Alexander was not where Shadow had left him. The hedgehog didn't even have time to trace the trail of fresh blood left on the floorboards before Rouge slammed into him.

"ROUGE!" he yelled as they both tumbled into the middle of the room. Why did things never go according to plan? Certainly, he hadn't expected Alexander to disappear from the dinner table, nor had he expected Rouge to catch him. And, when that finally did occur, Shadow definitely didn't foresee himself on the bottom of their little entanglement. But he was. Rouge's claws were tucked away in his shoulders, pinning him to the floor while her jaws snapped furiously at his throat. It took everything to keep her fangs that much-needed inch away from his newly-repaired veins, and even that was giving.

He curled slightly, placing both feet against her chest, and activated his airblades. With a hiss from the shoes and a screech from her own mouth, Rouge flew upwards and smacked into the ceiling. Shadow wasted no time, flipping onto his feet and taking off. He could hear her thud back onto the ground.

Whether or not he realized it, Alexander had left a trail of blood in his escape, and it lead directly to the coat closet he'd hidden in. Shadow snarled at the ridiculousness; first because Alex actually thought his ill-conceived plan would work, and then because it almost did. Rouge was on her feet, rocketing after him. He leapt forward and grabbed the closet's handle, twisting and wrenching so that the door flung open. Alexander flew out with a scream, having been holding the door closed. Rouge shot inside. Shadow lost his grip.

Alexander kicked the already-swinging door closed. There was a scuffle inside the closet, and then an all-too-familiar thud. Then, only the floorman's labored breaths cut the otherwise stark silence. He and Shadow stared at each other, one utterly infuriated, the other nearly unconscious. Alex could no longer form words, but the look of terror etched onto his face said it all: _please don't let her out_.

Of course, it was exactly what Shadow moved to do. Alex cried out, shook his head, started to crawl away, but much more nimbly did his captor reach the closet door, kick it to rouse the monster behind it, and turn the handle.

* * *

**Shadow's Notes**

Vampires do age in their corpse, though this feat is only activated while in direct sunlight. Important persons who are turned use this to their advantage, enabling themselves to stay in the public eye without drawing suspicions. Day walkers refer to this type of vampire, while night crawlers refer to those vampires that only step outside after dark. Vampires can switch types arbitrarily, some aging several years under the sun and then keeping their appearance for several decades, by quitting diurnal activities.

**Author Commentary**

… I wonder how many of you guys are still here? Roll call in the comments!

For those that were disappointed by my two-year disappearance, I must apologize. Things got kind of hectic after my last update. I won't get into the grimy details, but later on, in Spring of 2010, I got into a very serious car accident and was pretty much out of commission for the next six or so months. When I got back to school, I had to play catchup during Fall and Spring semesters.

_Sunset_ kind of got lost somewhere in the chaos. has this "Lol No Author Announcements" rule, and I couldn't find the time to write-out a chapter to attach it to and inform you all.

But to those of you who hung on these past couple years; _Sunset_ is back, and my life has calmed down. I can resume updating this regularly! My writing-style has changed, so I'll also be rewriting the older chapters as well (though not enough to require you all to re-read them).

I hope you all have been well. Peace out and Stay Outta Alleys!


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